The Truth Shall Be Told
by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10
Summary: It all began with a false rumour, one which was 'obviously' too convincing for Neji to have just ignored. Tenten is dating Uchiha, his rival? It just didn't sit well with this Hyuga. Nor with a certain Uchiha Itachi... Non massacre AU! SasTenIta
1. A Rumour!

**The Truth Shall Be Told**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Naruto but I own the ideas for my story.**

**Summary:**** It all began with a false rumour, one which was 'obviously' too convincing for Neji to have just ignored. Tenten is dating Uchiha, his rival? It just didn't sit well with this Hyuga. AU-ish because the Uchiha massacre never happened! SasTen/Tenten X Sasuke.**

**Chapter One**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

Ino Yamanaka let out her eleventh yawn that day, as she positioned herself in a more comfortable position at the wooden counter of the Yamanaka flower shop.

"Sooo bored!" Came a muffled groan from the blonde kunoichi. She just wasn't the working type if it didn't include a bit of mischief on her behalf. She would much rather be out shopping with someone, but noooo.

Shikamaru would never agree, because it would be just too 'troublesome', as he puts it. And no way would Ino be seen in public with her second teammate, the eating machine, Chouji.

Besides, before she could even _think_ about shopping, she'd need to somehow convince her stubborn mother for the day off!

Ino was about to think up some very creative excuses for her next plan of action, when suddenly, there was an urgent knock on the door.

And with some bell jingles, Haruno Sakura made herself known.

"Ino…YOU PIG!" Scolded the pinkette as she stormed over to her rival and slammed her fist down on the wooden counter where Ino's head _had _been resting.

"Hello BILLBOARD –BROW!" Ino greeted casually, flashing her friend a knowing smirk. "Finally decided to pay your best friend a visit?"

Sakura still hadn't calmed down and had to clench her fists tightly to supress the urge to pound Ino into smithereens.

"Let me rephrase that for you, Ino. YOU'VE got some explaining to do! NOW!"

Ino stepped out from behind the counter to face Sakura fully. Her oceanic blue eyes were gleaming deviously.

"Try me!"

Sakura didn't bother wasting time but instead launched into the topic that currently had many villagers and shinobi at loss for words.

"Then explain this. WHO started the rumour!" Ino looked puzzled for a second before she remembered just what Sakura was talking about.

"Oh…You mean the one about Tenten dating Sasuke?"

"Hell yeah!"

* * *

It was a quiet and peaceful day in the village hidden in the leaves. Birds chirped cheerfully and Genin ninja played happily in the forests. There was nothing particularly special happening, but of course, this all changed very quickly.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Trees of all shapes and sizes, plummeted to the ground. It was like the end of the Shinobi world. Or even like the catastrophic attack of the nine-tailed demon fox, replayed in the form of a certain Hyuga.

TWANG! BOOM! BANG!

You could see his muscles almost come out of his skin as he delivered a fated blow to anything that got in his way.

This Hyuga was in a bad mood. (A/N: When I say bad, I mean baaaaaaaaaaad!)

As you guessed, it was Neji causing this much relentless destruction and for one simple cause. A rumour.

"There she is!" Spat the angered Hyuga just as he sent yet another tree down. He jumped through the forest speedily, hopefully fast enough to reach his target in time.

A few minutes later, Neji stopped outside a deserted clearing to search the area vigorously with his byakugan.

"Where'd she go?" He thought aloud, resounded bitterness in his tone. His patience never lasted in times like this.

Neji was about to send another tree down, just for the sake of it, when something stopped him.

A kunai sailed right past his ear and hit the tree directly behind, the same one he was about to assault.

"Where'd who go? And when did you start holding grudges against friendly trees, huh?" Came a familiar female's voice.

Turning around stiffly, Neji immediately locked eyes with the person he had so many questions for.

She was perched on the ground with her back defensively against the tree with the kunai in it. Her hair in its usual signature buns and a questioning brow raised.

'As elegant as usual.' Neji noted, as he scanned her form for any signs of difference, not that there should be any even if she _was_ dating Uchiha. But of course, that needed to be clarified first.

Tenten raised an eyebrow as she stepped forward. "Neji?"

The slightly calmer Hyuga straightened and deactivated byakugan, satisfied that Tenten was…unchanged.

"Do you mind explaining?" Tenten asked impatiently, emphasizing the last word.

"It is you who should be doing the _explaining_,Tenten." Neji muttered under his breath, getting angrier.

With this, Tenten frowned. "Look Neji, I have places to go, people to see, so if you're going to be uncooperative – "

Neji snapped. He'd heard enough.

Without thinking through what he was about to do, Neji pinned Tenten against the tree. With matching speed, she swiftly brought out a kunai and held it against his throat.

"….."

Neji spent a few seconds gathering up his thoughts and then moved his mouth to her ear. He could feel her warm breath softly fanning around his neck, but the kunai remained rigidly in place against his neck even so.

"W-what do you think you are doi – " She began quietly, but he cut her off.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be. Just tell me…"

"Tell you _what_." Tenten bit out icily.

"You're going to tell me if this is true. Are you seeing the Uchiha?"

"Seeing Uchi….?"

Tenten stopped abruptly, a certain memory entering her mind. "oh yes…" She muttered sarcastically.

Neji stiffened slightly at the sudden change of her tone. "Hn."

Tenten glared into Neji's pearly eyes. "The rumours."

An idea struck her then and she smirked.

"Release me and I'll tell you… unless you wish to spend the night in the medical unit with a kunai through your brain!" The bun-haired kunoichi warned.

Before Neji could respond, there was the faint sound of rustling and a few harsh shouts.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, INO PIG?"

"OH JUST BE QUIET, BILLBOARD-BROW!"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, BE QUIET? – "

When the two noisy kunoichi finally reached the occupied clearing and set their eyes on Neji, then Tenten…let's just say they belched.

"Whaa…"

Tenten sweat dropped and Neji immediately released her. "We shall talk about this another time." He hissed, only loud enough for Tenten to hear, then disappeared from the scene in a flash with his amazing stealth.

Tenten focused her attention back to her two friends, only to see that they had disappeared too.

"I bet they're starting a new rumour." Tenten murmured darkly, her grip around the kunai tightening. Should she go after _them_? Or should she go after Neji?

No. Tenten wasn't going to find either. She was going to see someone else, and personally.

She was going to see Sasuke Uchiha so that she could sort things out from the core of the problem!

* * *

A few minutes later, Tenten arrived at the entrance of the Uchiha Compound and felt a bit giddy about what she was about to do.

She couldn't just burst into a clan's compound, much less the Uchiha's, and then appear at Sasuke's doorstep without being invited?

The bun-haired kunoichi straightened herself and raised her head high, wanting to look confident to give the impression that she actually knew what she was doing.

There weren't many Uchiha's out and about the compound, Tenten noticed. It even felt slightly isolated from the rest of the village, being so far apart. She couldn't help but flinch at how many glares she received and unconsciously, her hand rested on her weapons pouch.

Soon Tenten approached what looked to be a bridge which arced over a peaceful and steady stream. No one else was there and she was quite surprised. After all, it was so nice and relaxing.

Without giving it a second thought, she spent a few moments standing there and enjoying the welcoming feeling this compound brought, minus the isolation and death glares.

Tenten continued to stare at the enchanting stream when suddenly, she sensed a presence drawing closer.

She turned around to come face to face with someone she hadn't expected to see right _there_.

"Tenten." Came a stoic yet familiar voice.

The bun-haired kunoichi stiffened. "Yes." She replied, equally as formal. When she turned around, she had to supress the urge to gasp.

There standing behind her was none other than Uchiha _Itachi_. And there she thought it had been his younger brother!

With a polite bow, Tenten faced the older Uchiha and ANBU captain. "Itachi-san."

He watched her closely through his dark eyes and didn't miss her hesitation.

"May I assume you are here to see Sasuke?" The older Uchiha asked, raising an eyebrow slightly but not betraying any emotions.

Tenten nodded slowly.

"You will find him at Team Seven's training grounds." Itachi responded quietly, before walking past her. "A-arigato…" She stuttered out, a bit late.

With a new route readily planned out, Tenten turned away from the Uchiha compound, a new determination burning inside of her. She was going to find Sasuke and with his help, try to put an end to these crazy rumours. Oh, and they'd also have to get around convincing Neji – but that was a completely different matter, Tenten decided.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! How did you guys find it? Well how else will I know unless we review my friends? :D**


	2. Meeting Sasuke!

**The Truth Shall Be Told**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Naruto but I do own the ideas for my story.**

**A/N: ****Thank you to those who reviewed or added my story to their favourites! Enjoy!**

**Reminder/s:**

'Inner Tenten'

**Chapter Two**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

A certain bun-haired kunoichi arrived at Team Seven's training grounds, panting. Her signature buns were slightly disoriented from the relentless journey with some odd strands hanging out messily. She noticed that it was eerily quiet and no one else appeared to be there. Scanning the area over quickly, Tenten quickly summarize that there was nothing out of the usual going on.

It was around nightfall and finally giving out its last few bright rays, the sun had hidden deep beneath the hills, allowing a gloomy moon to emerge and glow dimly as tiny stars twinkled like sparkly gems, contrasting its enchanting image. Owls hooted softly in the far distance and gave a soothing atmosphere to the training grounds.

Tenten spotted a target dummy just a few meters away, and couldn't resist the instinctive urge to bring out a shuriken and shoot.

Unsurprisingly, it was a perfect bull's-eye.

"Good shot."

A voice commented quietly, in more of a murmur than anything.

Tenten's brown eyes widened in the darkness as the hairs on the back of her neck rose.

How did she not sense his approach?

"Sasuke." She acknowledged, glancing at the Uchiha as controlled as she could manage. Leaning against the entrance gate to the training grounds was none other than the infamous Uchiha whom was centred in most of Tenten's problems of late.

He was smirking slightly, Tenten found, when she turned to face him fully and noticed that he seemed so lax as well.

"What are you doing here?"

He questioned coldly, and Tenten couldn't help but flinch at his harsh words. She wanted to say the same thing, considering that he _did _sneak up on her.

Regardless of that or not, his dark, penetrating eyes had an effect that stopped her from doing so.

"I'm here to… um…?" Tenten panicked.

How on earth could she tell him when he was glaring at her like that? It was like he could read her mind!

'Maybe he can, ne?' Echoed inner-Tenten from somewhere in her many thoughts.

"I don't have all day Tenten. Unless you mean to tell me that you're here to spar."

Spar?

'At this time of night?'

Tenten quickly looked around and noticed that they were the only ones there. His other two teammates were nowhere to be seen, obviously. So really, what was Sasuke doing here? When Itachi told Tenten that Sasuke would be at team Seven's training grounds, she expected that the rest of the team would be with him? Was it some sort of normal thing for him to be here, alone at night? Why wasn't he at the Uchiha compound?

Tenten fixed a hard expression. "No, I'm not here to spar." She said sharply.

"Then why are you here?" Sasuke questioned impatiently. His dark eyes quickly flashed with an unreadable expression.

"I am here, Uchiha… t-to…um talk to you." Tenten finally stuttered out. Why couldn't she just talk normally around the Uchiha? It's not like being in the presence of a prodigy was new to her.

Silence was the only response that greeted her.

Sasuke had no intention to converse with anyone, much less Tenten. His emotionless gaze hardened as a thought passed his mind.

Quite recently, Sasuke's father has been bringing up the topic of marriage during clan meetings as a new way to 'harass' Sasuke. It did not appeal to him at all. The only thing he desired at the moment was to become stronger in order to surpass Itachi. So whenever a clan meeting was soon approaching, Sasuke would usually go down to team Seven's training grounds to avoid them, with the excuse of training. It was a win-win situation.

But really, he hadn't been expecting to find _her_ here today.

Sasuke broke out of his thoughts to focus on the kunoichi before him, and he couldn't help but notice her shivering slightly.

"Begin… before you catch a cold." With this, Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Right…" Tenten said awkwardly, a bit of red tainting her cheeks. "…the rumours."

Sasuke gave her a blank expression.

"What? You mean to tell me you didn't know?" Tenten shrieked, bewildered. 'Is this a joke? How could he not know?'

"No." He answered simply, stepping away from the entrance gate and closing the distance between them.

"Now tell me, Tenten. Just what has this got to do with me?"

'Here comes the hard part.' Her inner commented, making Tenten blush at the realisation.

The Uchiha in front of her looked even more annoyed than he had a few moments ago. Tenten wondered why, but that would have to wait.

"The rumour is about both of us, actually. I reckon it was Ino who started it… but anyway, the rumour was that we are dating."

"And? Why should I care about insignificant rumours?"

'Why? Because I don't like being ambushed by Neji, or the subject of major gossip in the village!'

Tenten sighed. It would be hard getting this through a certain Uchiha's big head.

"…Sasuke. Please just try not to be stubborn and work with me here. This title as your girlfriend is something I can't live with!"

Sasuke listened to Tenten contemplatively. Although it didn't please his ego that Tenten didn't like the title many of his fan girls would die over, she had a point. He already had enough problems to deal with and it would be no good for another one to be added to his list.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Sasuke asked curiously, putting his hands in his pockets.

The bun-haired kunoichi frowned deductively. "I don't know." She admitted.

Out of habit, Tenten brought out a shuriken and spun it slowly around her finger. It helped her think.

"… Well why don't we follow through with the rumour, just pretend of course… and then a few days later we could act out a huge break-up scene? It's not like we can go around saying the rumours were untrue, that'd take forever… knowing Ino and her connections." Tenten muttered the last part darkly, a familiar rage filling her chocolate-brown eyes.

'Ino won't know what hit her…' Inner-Tenten agreed mischievously.

"Fine. But on one condition. We must make sure to do it around my father especially." Sasuke added, but shot Tenten a quick glare as to say: Don't ask, before she could question him.

"Alright! We've got a plan going on here!" The bun haired kunoichi announced encouragingly. "….And how about that spar, huh Sasuke-_kun_!"

This was going to be a long night, Sasuke concluded. But he didn't mind, surprisingly. Anything to keep him away from those dreadful clan meetings… and the topic of marriage.

But, it seemed, the rumours were a blessing in disguise. If he could pull off faking to be Tenten's boyfriend, then maybe it would silence his father's harassful marriage topics, even for only for a few days.

Turning back to the kunoichi in front of him, Sasuke smirked as three dark tomoe swirled against crimson as he activated sharingan.

"Get ready," She warned with a smirk, bringing out a summoning scroll. "I won't go easy on you, whether we'll be pretending to date or not!"

* * *

Next morning…

Neji was woken up by the sound of rapid tapping on his bedroom window. His pearly eyes opened to glare at the ninja messenger hawk perched outside. With reluctance, he got out of bed and opened the window still frowning at the bird.

It reminded him of certain… misfortunes.

It opened its beak to reveal a mission scroll and Neji accepted it immediately. "You can go now." He hissed at it, quite irritated. After all, it _had _woken him up rather unpleasantly.

Neji quickly tore the ribbon holding the scroll off, and read its contents.

_For: Hyuga Neji_

_Upcoming Mission Brief;_

_Report to the Main village gate immediately for your joint B-Rank mission with both Team Gai and Team Seven. You have 20 minutes until the mission commences – don't be late._

Neji frowned after reading those first two sentences. Why? Because it was bad enough that he wouldn't have time to do any morning meditations, but a mission with that Uchiha brat?

His hold on the scroll tightened considerably.

_Your mission is to locate the whereabouts of Kaname Hatimaki – a Cloud missing-nin, capture him and bring him back to Konoha. He possesses a stolen scroll with important intel on our village. You have three days to complete this mission, please make it a success;_

_The Godaime._

Neji immediately tucked the scroll somewhere safe, and prepared for the mission. He just hoped that everyone else would be ready, because by the sounds of it, it wasn't going to be easy, although he knew that _he _would probably handle it. But what about the Uchiha? Could that brat prove himself to be a worthy opponent in the near future?

And most importantly, would Tenten make it out unscratched?


	3. The Mission

**The Truth Shall Be Told**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Naruto. I only own the ideas for my story.**

**A/N:**** Welcome back my readers! :D Every single one of your reviews for the last chapter were much appreciated! I am very grateful for your support and encouragement. Thank you, and as always…ENJOY! :D**

**Reminder/s:**

'Inner Tenten'

**Chapter Three**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

"Are you all ready?" Hatake Kakashi asked the seven ninja huddled around him. They all nodded vigorously, some more enthusiastic than others.

"Once Pakkun is summoned, get into formation 'A', and follow his lead."

"AND LET THE POWER OF YOUTH TAKE CONTROL!" Gai sensei finished exuberantly. Lee immediately took notes and looked up at Gai with admiration. "GAI SENSEI YOU ARE RIGHT!" Lee exclaimed, impressed.

Sakura, Neji, Tenten, Naruto and Kakashi all sweat dropped.

"Right…" Sakura said. "…let's just go now."

Once the ninja dog was summoned, they all got into the formation – Kakashi taking the lead with Gai and Pakkun, next up was Lee with Naruto, then Sakura with Tenten and Neji with Sasuke taking the rear end.

With lightning fast speed, they all shot off and began the mission.

"So, whereabouts is this Kaname Hatimaki guy, Kakashi-sensei?" Tenten asked, a few hours into the mission, and breaking the tense silence which had enveloped the eight ninja. (Minus Lee, Naruto and Gai's noisy ramblings in the background.)

"Our leads tell us somewhere in the Hidden Mist Village. Pakkun should be able to sniff him out once we get there," Kakashi said, then stopped on the fourth branch ahead and turned around to face the whole team fully.

"Huh? Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto exclaimed, stopping as well along with the rest of the team, clearly confused.

"There is a river ahead which we must pass to enter the Mist Village. Pair up and grab a boat when we get there. Just a heads ups."

There was a bit of arguing after Kakashi's announcement, where Tenten glanced quickly at everyone.

'Oh boy…' Inner commented silkily.

Neji seemed to have completely removed himself from the situation, leaning against a tree away from the rest of the team with his eyes closed in deep concentration.

At first, Tenten thought Neji was simply meditating, but looking closer, it was far from that. The slight tightness of his jaw and discreet tightening of his folded arms indicated that something was off.

Wondering what was wrong, Tenten was about to go over and ask when a hand caught her wrist and held on to it firmly.

"Tenten."

She quickly glanced behind to see Sasuke, who was staring coldly in Neji's direction. What was going on? Had the two prodigies already gotten into a fight?

'Put two and two together, ne. Of course they did!'

"Sasuke, what…"

"You're going with me." He verified coolly. For a moment, the bun-haired kunoichi wanted to object, but then remembered about their… other little agreement.

"Alright." She said gruffly. "Just don't expect me to suddenly turn into one of your personal slaves." She muttered under her breath.

"You already got that point across after our little spar yesterday, remember? And do you also remember who won?" Sasuke said, smirking.

"We only agreed on pretending to date, _remember_? You winning has nothing to do with that!" Tenten snapped furiously. She didn't take losing any type of battle down well, especially against cocky bastards!

"HEY TEME!" Naruto yelled over everyone's heads. Tenten noticed that Sasuke had stiffened considerably, and raised an eyebrow wondering why. Was Naruto actually talking to _Sasuke_. And like _that_.

"What do you want, dobe?"

"YOU'RE GOING ON MY BOAT, SASUKE!" Naruto shouted loudly, assuming that Sasuke didn't already have someone to go with.

Sakura seemed to have finished her bickering with Lee and turned to the newest development, eyeing Sasuke hopefully. Maybe she wanted to be his partner. After all, the pinkette held on to even the oldest of crushes for quite a while. The recent rumours didn't stop her from wanting Sasuke all to herself. Maybe when she and Ino saw Tenten and Neji alone yesterday morning, it gave her the impression that they were no longer dating.

"WELL, TEME?" Naruto pushed impatiently.

"Shut up, dobe. I'm going with Tenten." Sasuke stated evenly.

An awkward silence fell over everyone. Even Gai-sensei and Lee had stopped their ramblings on youth.

"So the rumours were true after all…" Sakura muttered to herself disappointedly. "Fine then. If Sasuke is going with Tenten… then I'll just go with you, Naruto." The blonde seemed more than happy to go with Sakura, and completely forgot about the strangeness of his other teammate suddenly wanting to go with Tenten.

Neji however, didn't forget so easily. A fierce passion filled his pearly eyes momentarily, before he decided to speak up.

"Then I'm joining you two." He announced. Tenten raised a questioning eyebrow but agreed even so. It's not like there'd be any problems, right?

"You're not welcome, Hyuga." Sasuke stated plainly.

"I don't believe it is you who decides on that, Uchiha." Neji spat with disgust.

"We'll see about that, Hyuga."

"Just you wait then, Uchiha."

"Be – "

Tenten had just about heard enough. Seriously, why couldn't they both get along? Did their rivalry have something to do with their clans or something?

"Neji will be coming with us and that is that!" Tenten barked sharply.

The triumphant Hyuga shot Sasuke a smirk, who simply folded his muscular arms over his chest.

"Hn."

Tenten sighed. What had she gotten herself into?

A few minutes later, all the ninja were finally paired up – Kakashi would be sharing with Pakkun; Gai would be sharing with Lee; Sakura would be sharing with Naruto, and finally, Tenten would be sharing with Neji and Sasuke.

They continued travelling east, through the foliage of the pine forests outlining the Mist village, until they reached an ancient looking harbour with about four rusty boats.

"…Eh. Kakashi-sensei? Are the planks safe enough to walk along?" Sakura asked, wide-eyed. The wooden planks looked nothing more than a shattered set of mouldy wood with holes all over.

Tenten raised an eyebrow when Kakashi nodded in response to Sakura's question. She was definitely going to use chakra enhanced feet to get across it.

"Now that we're here, get into your respective boats and row north. The next meeting point is on the other side of the Naruto Bridge in one hour. Stay on guard and be careful." Kakashi warned.

With that, they all followed the orders they were given, and began.

"Hey teme! I'll bet me and Sakura will reach there before you!" Naruto challenged, as he walked to his boat with Sakura.

"Don't count on it, dobe."

When Sasuke reached his shared boat, he noticed that Neji and Tenten were already in.

"I'm rowing." The Uchiha informed them as he retrieved the shabby pieces of wood that they were expected to use as rows. Neji frowned but said nothing and Tenten just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever you say."

Surprisingly, Sasuke was pretty good at rowing, Tenten noted, as she watched the Uchiha's surprisingly muscular arms perform strong and rhythmic motions. She'd never noticed before how flourishing he was.

The bun-haired kunoichi soon found herself staring at Sasuke with captivation. His dark, raven coloured hair contrasted with his pale skin and dark eyes. His eyebrows furrowed as he concentrated at the task at hand…

'Just look at how sexy he is… ne? …And guess what? He's all yours!' Inner proclaimed deviously.

Sasuke suddenly glanced at Tenten who was still staring at him, in question. She gasped in alarm, then quickly looked away, blushing. She'd been caught red handed. Oh great. Just Great.

Sasuke looked back to his rowing, slightly confused. Why had Tenten been watching him for so long? At first he just ignored it, but it was getting annoying.

He just hoped she wasn't turning into one of his many fan girls. It would make this whole pretending to be dating act a lot more complicated.

The river they were rowing through was a clear navy blue. The current was so peaceful and steady, reminding Tenten of the stream in the Uchiha compound. She could just stare at it for hours, if she wasn't here for a mission. The atmosphere and calm splashing of water was just so settling…

There was, however, a ghostly mist beginning to envelop the area around them as well. For some reason, something about it made Tenten's blood chill considerably. Something just didn't feel right.

The bun-haired kunoichi turned to face Neji, to see if he found any of this suspicious, but the Hyuga wore a completely blank expression.

And Tenten wouldn't dare look at Sasuke, not after the recent incident.

'This place gives me the creeps.' Inner commented unhelpfully.

It was quite ironic, considering that she could have fallen asleep here without any problems a minute ago.

Just what was going on?

"Hey Neji…" She began slowly, "don't you sense something's wrong?" She asked, hoping that she hadn't gone insane.

The Hyuga shook his head and shot her a questioning glance. "No. But I'll scan the area just in case."

"Byakugan!"

When Neji looked around with his kekkei genkai, he noticed that something was indeed wrong. The others on their different boats were close by, but they didn't appear to be affected. It was only them.

"Our chakra networks have been disrupted considerably… that could only mean one thing." Neji bit out agitatedly. How had he not noticed?

Sasuke had momentarily stopped rowing to listen in on what Neji was saying.

"What are you talking about, Hyuga?"

Tenten shook her head slowly. "Now is not the time for that, Sasuke. I think we are caught inside a genjutsu."

The younger Uchiha's eyes immediately shot blood-red against three tomoe. He stiffened slightly as he too looked around.

"We are being ambushed. The mist is a genjutsu," He announced as his expression hardened significantly. "….and Tenten is too."

Neji's eyes widened in disbelief. He stared down at the bun-haired kunoichi next to him, and realised that it was indeed not Tenten.

**A/N:**** Tenten's been kidnapped! ;'( lol. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thank you for reading! As always, reviews whether their of praise or even constructive criticism are always appreciated! :D**


	4. Imprisoned

**The Truth Shall Be Told**

**A/N: ****You guys really are the best! :D Thanks for the feedback, it means a lot! And as always… ENJOY!**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**Chapter Four**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

Kakashi, Gai, Lee and the rest had all arrived on the other side of the Naruto Bridge. Gai and Lee had arrived there first, obviously, – in record breaking time, and everyone else had arrived soon afterwards, apart from Neji, Sasuke and a certain bun-haired kunoichi.

"What's going on, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked anxiously as she turned to face the silver-haired Jonin. "Wouldn't you have thought that they'd be here by now?"

"SAKURA IS RIGHT!" Lee and Naruto exclaimed in unison.

"They have a point there, Kakashi." Gai agreed.

"Well that's strange. Maybe we should wait a bit longer. In the meantime, Gai, Lee and Naruto, I want you three to begin tracking down Kaname Hatimaki. Pakkun will lead you to him."

"Well, if you say so!" Naruto ageed, but couldn't help feeling worried for his other three comrades who hadn't arrived yet. "WE SHALL NOT FAIL YOU!"

* * *

The sound of failing a mission didn't appeal to Sasuke, but loosing Tenten didn't either. There was something about her that made him curious. After their little spar the night before the mission, not only had she proved to him that she was a splendid and skilled kunoichi, but also determined and strong in mind, body and spirit. He not only knew that she was capable of protecting herself, but her friends as well.

A frown fell over the young Uchiha's face, as he glared at the replica of Tenten through blazing sharingan eyes. Neji was beside him, positioned in a defensive stance and ready to attack. They'd already managed to dispel the genjutsu, which removed the mist, but soon found out that Tenten's replica wasn't an illusion, but a solid shadow clone.

"Stand back, Hyuga. Let me handle this." Sasuke stated calmly.

Neji was reluctant, but obeyed even so, not taking his eyes away from the clone in front of them.

Performing the necessary hand seals, Sasuke sucked in a huge amount of air.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

Just as the fireball shot towards the clone, it flipped out of harm's way and reappeared on the river, a few metres away from the boat and standing afloat with chakra enhanced feet. It briefly glared at them with Tenten's chocolate-brown eyes, completely unharmed and not burning to a crisp for that matter, before turning to run away.

BANG!

Since the fireball had missed, it crashed into the centre of their boat, setting it on fire and causing the old wooden makeshift to begin to sink.

"We need to get off now!" Neji hissed, as they both jumped out, landing stealthily on the river with chakra-feet.

"You won't get away so easily!" Neji warned the retreating replica as he dashed forward and shot a fistful of chakra, aimed at a vital chakra point.

"Gentle fist!"

Unfortunately for Neji, Tenten's clone had other plans. It quickly counterattacked by swerving around and landing a roundhouse kick at the Hyuga before his attack could touch it. Not expecting this, Neji didn't have time to block and was sent flying.

"Now it's my turn!" Sasuke swiftly brought out a number of kunai with explosive tags and whisked them all out at Tenten's replica at a breathtakingly fast speed.

'I've caught it now.' Sasuke thought triumphantly, as he watched the army of explosive kunais sail towards the replica.

BOOM! BANG! TWANG!

A satisfying 'poof' sounded as the shadow clone was wiped out of existence, leaving the two prodigies soaked from head to toe in water. The explosion had caused a spray of water droplets from the river to shower them.

"What do you suggest we do now, Hyuga? By the looks of it, Tenten's been captured and we're already late for the meeting point at the Naruto Bridge." Sasuke sated agitatedly.

"I suggest one of us should go down to the bridge and alert the others of our… newest development. The other can begin searching for Tenten, Uchiha."

"Hn."

"Hn."

Suddenly, there was the sound of splashing feet as the two prodigies sensed two familiar presences rushing over. And sure enough, the outline of a pink head along with a flash of silver came into view as Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura made themselves known.

"There they are! Can you see them, Kakashi-sensei?"

The Jonin and pinkette came to a halt a few feet in front of Neji and Sasuke, panting heavily.

"Where were you guys?" Sakura scolded, before her gaze landed on the empty space where Tenten _should _be standing. "…Eh? Where is –"

"We don't know." Neji cut in, slightly annoyed. "We were ambushed but never got a chance to seek out the enemy shinobi who caused it. They must have captured Tenten when our guard slipped… somehow. All traces of her are gone."

Kakashi frowned deductively, now accustomed to the fact that things were going to get a lot more complicated.

"Hmm, I see. Then we have no other choice but to go and find her. Gai, Lee and Naruto are already tracking down Kaname Hatimaki with Pakkun's help, so this new predicament shouldn't affect the success of our mission."

They all nodded silently, and awaited further instructions from the Copy-nin.

"Neji, do you think you can quickly check if she isn't still around this area again?" Kakashi said, turning to the Hyuga.

"Of course."

"Byakugan!"

Moments later, Neji tuned back to them and shook his head. "It's no use; There are no traces of her chakra signature anywhere –"

Suddenly, Neji's pearly eyes flashed with an unreadable expression as he looked down around their footing area, and began to scan the river below their feet vigorously.

"… Unbelievable. There's some sort of underwater… hideout?"

* * *

"You better let me go!" Tenten growled at the masked ninja holding her captive. It looked to be a man a few years senior to her, with mid-length brown hair that was tied back. On the white mask he wore were strange imprints and symbols that Tenten had never seen before, and his iron grip holding her wrists back was impenetrable.

"Be a good kunoichi and stop struggling."

Tenten gritted her teeth angrily. What did he just say?

'How dare he insult us like that! Why don't we teach this bastard a lesson, ne?"

A fierce determination lit up Tenten's chocolate-brown eyes. Ignoring his words, she continued to struggle persistently, not ready to give up now!

_Flashback_

_Tenten felt her cheeks burn as she turned away from Sasuke's gaze, to observe the navy blue river they were traveling across instead. _

_Her gaze soon landed on a ghostly mist which was beginning to envelop around them. It made her blood chill and brought a terrible feeling to her gut. Something didn't feel right… it was like they were being watched?_

_Tenten wanted to know if anyone else noticed, so she asked._

"_Hey Neji…. Don't you sense something's wrong?"_

_He shook his head. "No. But I'll scan the area just in case."_

_In the instance that Neji looked away and Sasuke was occupied with rowing, something wrapped around Tenten's waist and yanked her out of the boat before she could even think to scream. She noticed the person had performed a few quick seals before a replica of herself appeared in the boat._

_Immediately following this, the bun-haired kunoichi was dragged underwater for what felt like an eternity. She tried to break free from her captive's iron grip, but it was impenetrable. The person only loosened their grip when they performed another jutsu, and suddenly, a faint screech echoed around them._

_As Tenten tried to hold her breath a bit longer, a blast of light entered her vision and she realised that they were entering some type of underwater hideout. The male shinobi hauled her inside, and finally, she could breathe, but lost consciousness anyway._

_When Tenten, regained consciousness, she noticed that she was inside a small room, more like a prison cell, with no windows and only a few torches for light. The place was typically damp and freezing, or maybe it felt so cold because she was soaking wet?_

_The male-shinobi who had kidnapped her was on the other end of the small room, and looked to be sorting out paperwork on the low wooden table._

'_Now's your chance!' Inner hissed encouragingly. It really did annoy her when her opponents underestimated her like this. Tenten immediately drew out three shuriken, and without hesitation, flicked them at his form in the blink of an eye. He was taken aback by her assault and narrowly managed to deflect the fast coming weapons with three shuriken of his own._

_As all the shuriken clattered to the ground, they both shot out at each other, kunai in hand._

_CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!_

_A few relentless minutes passed as they battled, but the male shinobi had the upper hand somehow. Tenten didn't know why, but something about him was off._

_She realised a little too late, that he'd caught her in a strong genjutsu. The room suddenly shook and rumbled as the genjutsu took effect, causing her to lose balance and fall in the arms of her captive, once again in his impenetrable iron grip. _


	5. The Chunin Exams

**The Truth Shall Be Told**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**A/N:**** A huge thanks to those reviews! They were really appreciated! ENJOY! :D**

**Chapter Five**

**10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

Tenten hated feeling so weak and defenceless, it sickened her. It had also irked her to have been captured so easily and fallen for this masked freak's genjutsu trap.

She put on the strongest voice she could muster as she bit out, "What do you want with me?"

The masked-man chuckled a sinister chuckle before answering, a hint of hysteria in his voice. "You'll soon find out."

At his words, Tenten tensed. She just hoped that she wouldn't be sticking around long enough to find out. But how would she escape? He'd made sure to dispatch every single one of her weapons, and somehow extract the majority of her chakra. The only chance she had was by being rescued. Had Neji and Sasuke realised that she'd been kidnapped and replaced with a clone yet?

"It looks like we've got some company…" The masked-man said suddenly. Tenten jerked her head as a loud bang filled her ears and she wanted to cover them, but obviously couldn't.

Another bang, followed by several more sounded, as the ceiling began to crack and fall in. Moments later, a blurred form dropped down onto the ground in front of them in a crouched position.

"Sakura!" Tenten called to the pinkette. However, before anymore could be said, the bun-haired kunoichi wheezed in pain as the masked shinobi clamped his hand over her mouth. "Don't say another word." He hissed in her ear.

"Get your filthy hands off of her!" Tenten turned to her eyes to the right to see Neji running at them, a fierce look in his pearly eyes. Neji's words deemed effective as the man released Tenten to perform a jutsu. Not expecting the sudden release, Tenten fell to her knees, but someone caught her. She looked up and saw that it was Sasuke.

"I'll hold him off! You get Tenten to safety!" Neji ordered from across the room, facing his opponent with a familiar rage burning through his eyes. Neji could be really ruthless when he got like this.

"Be careful, Neji! His speciality is genjutsu!" Tenten called.

Although their enemy was still there, a strange sort of relief welled up inside of Tenten, as she looked up into Sasuke's blazing sharingan eyes and sighed. She was safe now.

'Phew… that was a close call, ne?' Inner muttered somewhere within Tenten's many thoughts.

Before she could realise what he was going to do, Sasuke swept the brunette from her feet and jumped out of the cell at an amazingly fast speed. Not expecting it, Tenten gasped and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled herself closer.

When they reached the surface of the river, the bun-haired kunoichi let go, slightly mortified.

"U-Um… a-a-arigato, S-S-Sasuke?" Tenten spluttered, but how was she supposed to talk properly when it was so freezing cold? She'd be catching pneumonia if she didn't freeze to death first.

"Are you alright?" The dark-eyed ninja asked, a small hint of concern momentarily flashing over his features.

Tenten couldn't help but stare at him. He was concerned for her? Really?

The Uchiha remained emotionless as he eyed her back. Her damp bangs clung to her face due to the water and her clothes did as well, making her figure more visible. What was he thinking?

"N-No, I'm fine Sasuke…j-just c-cold."

Snapping out of his trance, Sasuke took off his jacket and handed it to her. For a moment she stared at it, as if I would bite her, but accepted it anyway.

"T-Thank you, I f-feel a lot better now."

At that moment, there was a loud explosion and the river shook uncontrollably. Tenten managed to enhance her feet with chakra at the last second before she could fall.

"Do you think Neji will be okay? And what about Sakura?" She asked, worried for her comrades.

"Hn." Sasuke replied.

Before anymore could be said, a blur of pink and chestnut brown reached the surface of the river.

"Sakura! Neji!" Tenten called to her approaching comrades, glad that they were okay.

"Tenten…" Sakura breathed out, panting heavily as she crouched on the river's surface. Neji was doing the same, except he was much too out of breath to speak until a few moments later.

Tenten figured the battle must have been a tough one, but they had succeeded, by the looks of it.

"… Were you hurt, Tenten?" Neji looked up at the brunette to see how she was.

"N-No I'm f-f-fine – j-just a bit cold." Tenten then stepped away from them for a moment, to peer out into the far distance with squinted eyes.

"Huh… is that a boat? And do I see…. Lee?…Gai-sensei?…. Naruto?...Kakashi-sensei?...And some other guy?"

"Could it be?" Sakura breathed in shock, scrambling to her feet with a splash. "They managed to capture that Kaname Hatimaki guy!"

* * *

The mission was a success, despite a few… eventful confusions.

The eight very wet ninja (and the captured Kaname Hatimaki) were now heading back home, to Konoha. But that was not all.

Once they reached the village gates that nightfall, Kakashi and Gai stopped the six genin.

"Kakashi-sensei? Gai-sensei?" Naruto blurted out, confused. What was wrong now? Couldn't they retire to their respective homes for the night? The mission was a success, right?

"We'd like to make an announcement!" Gai began enthusiastically, getting into a pose.

"Since we have two days left before the mission deadline, the six of you have the next two days all to yourselves." Kakashi finished.

An awe-struck silence fell upon the six genin students.

"No training?" They all exclaimed in joy, but Lee was the only one who shouted it with disappointment.

"That's right. You all earned it, and… I suppose it's a small treat because the next few weeks are going to get a lot more difficult." Kakashi added, not betraying any signs of what is to come.

"KAKASHI IS CORRECT!" Gai agreed.

"What is it, sensei?" Sakura asked, peering at the Copy-nin. In return, the silver-haired jonin turned to his green-clad rival.

"Gai, would you like to do the honours?"

"Of course I would, Kakashi."

The six impatient and oblivious genin peered up at Gai, curious to hear what was in store for them.

"THE CHUNIN EXAMS!"

* * *

**A/N:**** So that's it! Hope you all liked this chapter! I know it's much shorter than the other chapters, but, given that I update regularly, I'm sure nobody minds! :)**

**Now, I'd just like to clear a few things in case anyone is confused, and if you're still confused, feel free to state you concern in a review! :)**

**1) They're all genin at the **_**moment**_**, so this story is set in Naruto. :) **

**2) Also, since the Uchiha massacre never happened, (or at least in this story) Sasuke's only desire is to become stronger and surpass his brother, - so the main story-line has been altered and I'm adding my own ideas in too. **

**3) And finally, I hope you all squinted for the small SasTen moment in this chapter! It was there! I am working on expanding these 'moments' and developing their relationship! :D**

**4) And last, but not least, this is a **_**Sasuke**_** X Tenten fic. I am sorry if this disappointed anyone, but although there may be a few NejiTen moments, it will **_**not**_** in the end be NejiTen! –I just wanted to make that clear! :P **

**Thanks for reading! :D**


	6. A Valid Point

**The Truth Shall Be Told**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**A/N:**** I couldn't have asked for anything better than some of the reviews you guys out there give me! :) Thanks a billion, I'm glad I have your support! ENJOY! :D**

**Chapter Six**

**10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

The next morning, Sasuke woke up with a lazy yawn. His eyes slowly opened to reveal two dark pools which briefly swept across his room and finally landed on the door.

Now how would he begin his first day to himself? Avoiding his father? Begging (or trying to force, should I say) Itachi to teach him some new techniques? Staying in bed?

As tempting as it was, Sasuke reluctantly got up – with the motivation that the sooner he trained, the stronger he'd get and the closer he'd be to surpassing Itachi. The mission he'd completed the previous night had not been easy, and the fact that he'd nearly lost a comrade to some unknown shinobi needed to be addressed to. Training thoroughly would sharpen his senses.

And although he hated to admit it, Sasuke was aware that his father's harassments on marriage were beginning to get out of hand. He needed to act fast before his father went and selected a wife for him to marry, for when he was of age.

Even though he knew that his father was talking about years to come when he brought up the topic of marriage (that much Sasuke was grateful for) it still didn't stop the man from making Sasuke dread it until the very last day!

What would he do? A moment of silence passed, as the younger Uchiha sat on his bed and glared at the picture of his father on the family photo in his room.

Somehow getting rid of the problem from its main source which would be the core of it all, was _unthinkable, _not to mention very rash and idiotic.

Lying about knowing who he wanted to court when the time came would be foolish – nothing passed his father undetected.

Sasuke then remembered a certain bun-haired kunoichi.

Would their little deal about pretending to date really do the trick? Would his father believe the rumours? And what about after, when their little break-up scene concluded everything and maybe even resolved the annoying rumours? Would his father simply resume harassing the younger Uchiha? Or should they just call it off before it stirred up more trouble – the last thing Sasuke needed was to be labelled as some jerk who can't even stick to one girl for longer than a week?

That was it. Sasuke scrambled to his feet and teleported out of the room with a silent 'poof'.

* * *

Tenten lay awake on her bed the next morning, allowing her thoughts to wonder back to the mission. She immediately shuddered. How… disturbing. Why had she been kidnapped during the mission? What had that creepy masked shinobi wanted from her?

And of course, the… Chunin exams?

Her head buzzed restlessly with many questions she didn't know the answer to.

'Ugh… give it a break, ne!' Inner growled with rage.

The bun-haired kunoichi was getting flustered over nothing. The mission had ended successfully and that was all that truly mattered, right? So why was she still worried?

Sunlight streamed in through her turquoise curtains, that lazily floating around the open window. Her thoughts were dismissed when she decided to gaze at the moving material.

'This is more like it, ne?' Inner commented with a cooing voice, seeming to have cooled down.

Tenten was about to wonder about how she'd begin her first day off (she didn't usually get many due to her sensei's crazy training schedules), when she sensed a faint presence lingering nearby. The distinctive chakra signature felt really familiar, but there was something about it she that couldn't place. A disturbance, maybe? Or some sort of ninjutsu?

Tenten unhooked her hands from behind her head and cautiously approached her open window. A kunai silently slid down her kimono sleeve as she got closer, and the presence felt much stronger.

Without warning, a gust of wind blew through the curtains and revealed to her the imposter.

Her breath hitched in her throat as her eyes froze against the penetrating glare of two dark pools looking straight at her.

"Tenten." The all too familiar, apathetic voice belonging to those raven-coloured eyes, said quietly, drawing Tenten's gaze to the form that dropped down into her bedroom swiftly.

He silently examined her room before looking back to the shell-shocked girl in front of him.

"We need to talk." He stated coolly.

"Sasuke… you what?" Tenten questioned, still slightly dazed by his sudden appearance. "Like I said; we need to talk." He responded impassively.

A second passed as Tenten tried to make sense of the situation.

Hold on.

Sasuke…. in her bedroom….

"You pervert!" Tenten screeched, loud enough for the whole of Konoha to hear. "Get out…. _now_." The bun haired kunoichi growled.

"Tenten this is urgent; you needn't worry, I'm not here for anything other than to talk. I'll leave as soon as we're done."

The brunette narrowed her eyes, but eased a bit even so, satisfied that he was telling the truth.

"Fine." She said, as controlled as she could manage. It really was prestigious how prodigies such as this Uchiha think they can just walk into a kunoichi's bedroom at this hour in the morning because they're in the 'mood' to _talk_.

"What's the problem?"

"Tell me about the situation with our little dating façade? I really don't see the point in it anymore." He stated coldly.

"Oh that…" Tenten trailed off. She'd completely forgotten about it, considering how she'd taken on a disastrous mission the interior day, gotten kidnapped by some creepy masked-shinobi; Oh, and her sensei had decided to finally tell them then at midnight how they were all entered in for the Chunin Exams right after the mission. Anything else? Maybe how she'd gotten no sleep by worrying herself to death all night as well?

'We reaaaally need a vacation… what d'ya say, ne?' Inner asked eagerly, but as always, Tenten simply ignored all the rants echoing from her mirror image within her mind.

"_Uchiha_, I believe our conversation is over. Fine. If you thought my idea about pretending to date in order to stop the rumours was _unnecessary_, then why didn't you just say so to begin with, huh?"

"What are you suggesting?"

"That you're probably disgusted with being seen with someone like me! –" Tenten replied heatedly but before she could finish, Sasuke pinned her against the wall with his hands placed closely next to either side of her head.

"You need to calm down and stop jumping to dumb conclusions…. What even made you think those things is beyond me."

Tenten released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding and closed her eyes in a bid to settle herself, whilst trying to ignore their painfully close proximity. "Your right… I–I don't know what made me think that, but why don't you think my plan will succeed?" Tenten said quietly, blushing furiously.

"I cannot tell you simply because it concerns my… father, whose reaction I believe won't surface to your…. plan, in the way I want it to." Sasuke said carefully.

In other words, Sasuke doesn't think his father will believe the rumours and will continue to harass him about marriage until he came up with a better resolve.

"…Right." Tenten said, satisfied enough, although she didn't understand a single thing he'd meant. "Do ya mind easing off now?" She said, giving him an encouraging glare. He released her from his grip without giving an apology and made his way over to the window.

"Where are you going?" Tenten asked dumbly.

"I'm leaving, _remember_? Isn't our conversation over?"

"Yes, but …"

'You were enjoying his company, weren't you, ne? Just admit it!' Inner challenged sneakily.

"But what? I have training to do." Sasuke stated plainly.

An idea struck Tenten then. "May I join? I suppose I need it too, right? I was captured so easily on our mission… it was a disgrace to the Hidden Leaf and most importantly, it said a lot about me as a kunoichi. If that's okay with you, of course…"

Sasuke watched her contemplatively. She had looked quite disappointed when she questioned her own abilities then, and he knew training with her might improve his skills as well. For some reason, seeing her look so upset angered Sasuke. He pushed the feeling away immediately.

Well, she wasn't too bad as a sparring partner. But what about her own team? Why couldn't she train with them?

"Why can't you train with your own team?"

The brunette looked up at him with a dazed expression. "Are you _crazy_?" The kunoichi spluttered, truly questioning the young Uchiha's sanity.

"I don't feel in the mood to send myself off for suicide, not today, Uchiha!"

"Whatever. If you want to tag along then please be my guest." With that, Sasuke leapt out of her window, leaving the kunoichi standing with her mouth hanging wide open in shock. When reality returned to her, she scrambled into her usual training gear (blushing at the realisation that he'd seen her clothed in just nightwear) and jumped off after him over rooftops.

When the brunette finally caught up with Sasuke,–panting heavily and sweating furiously, he merely glanced at her in silent acknowledgement as he led her to the Uchiha compound. 'She has good stamina.' He noted as they continued their journey in silence.

A few minutes later, they reached the Uchiha compound's private training grounds. At first, it had seemed fairly quiet and completely unoccupied.

That is, until Tenten heard the familiar faint clang of kunais hitting tree bark. She jerked her head forward but couldn't get a better view. The brunette turned to Sasuke and gave him a pointed look as to say: Who's there?

Instead of answering, Sasuke simply walked forwards with the intention that Tenten would to follow him. Getting used to his wordless commands, Tenten obediently followed, slightly annoyed that she was beginning to turn into some lost puppy.

But what could she say? She was in Uchiha territory and technically Sasuke had the upper hand because of that.

They soon came to a clearing where she could clearly hear the soft clang of kunai, but the trees surrounding them, blocked their view.

Rather abruptly, the soft clangs stopped, as the person probably sensed them. But something told Tenten otherwise. She had a feeling that the person had known they were there all along.

"Sasuke. Tenten." A stoic voice said, ringing through Tenten's ears with familiarity.

Could it be?

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as they stepped forward and revealed themselves.

"Itachi." Sasuke stated calmly.

Tenten gasped slightly at the realisation. Her eyes landed on the far side of the clearing where Uchiha Itachi was indeed kneeling. His long, raven-coloured hair was tied back at the end as usual and he wore his casual training attire. The older Uchiha raised his head to look at them both, revealing his emotionless expression.

"I've come to train here with Tenten." Sasuke stated plainly.

The way Sasuke and Itachi addressed each other, reminded Tenten of the way Neji and Sasuke addressed each other too. This was the first time she'd been in the presence of the two Uchiha at the same time, and it was clear that there was some sort of unspoken rivalry between them.

There was a quick flash of curiosity mixed with amusement in Itachi's calculating eyes before he spoke.

"It's nice to see you again, Tenten." Itachi greeted with a soft smile. Tenten couldn't help return the friendly gesture with a sweet smile of her own. Sasuke stiffened considerably.

Itachi smirked.

What was going on? Why couldn't they just behave like normal brothers instead of holding mini victories over the smallest of things, such as watching the other's reaction and being amused/entertained by their discomfort?

Wait.

Sasuke was uncomfortable with Itachi greeting her? Tenten sighed. Really, why does she even bother?

"I shall not get in your way then. I will see you later, Sasuke." With that, the older Uchiha transformed into a pack of crows and vanished from sight.

Sasuke turned to the Kunoichi next to him and asked, "You've met my brother before?"

Still a bit shocked from what she'd just seen(-Itachi turning into crows), Tenten didn't answer for a moment, but quickly snapped out of her trance.

"Oh that…. It's a long story…" The brunette got a bit fidgety under Sasuke's dark, penetrating gaze. When she started blushing, he turned away.

"Let's begin."

With that Tenten immediately got into battle mode and positioned herself in a defensive stance, hand lingering on her weapons pouch. Sasuke's eyes turned a demonic blood-red against three tomoe as he activated sharingan.

Hours passed as they sparred, only taking brief rests to catch their breaths. Although they had sparred once before, Sasuke felt challenged and was glad that Tenten could give him a decent battle once again. They even exchanged some fighting tips such as, "wield any weapon you're given as if it's an extension to your arm. Accuracy is essential, but flexibility with your weapon is too, especially in battle." and "when you fight, focus on trying to predict your opponents movements. That way, it'll be easier for you to counter them."

Around late afternoon, the battle was concluded with Sasuke holding victory once again. Tenten gritted her teeth and complained about it being unfair that Sasuke had a kekkei genkai, but admitted defeat even so.

"I think my stamina may have improved crazily enough. I mean, it's not like I don't do 500 laps around Konoha every time I meet up with my insane team or anything." Tenten joked as she sealed away all her weapons.

"And my accuracy with kunai throwing may have improved as well." Sasuke admitted.

A moment of silence passed as they both relaxed against separate trees.

'This is nice, ne.' Inner commented observantly.

Tenten decided to break the peaceful silence as tempting as it was to remain unspeaking.

"I wonder what the Chunin exams will be like." She said quietly. It was one of the things that had clouded her thoughts for most of the day. She was curious to see what the other shinobi from the other villages would be like and how they fought.

Sasuke frowned. He had never really thought about it before. After all, this test would determine whether he was strong enough to reach a higher rank as a shinobi.

"I don't know any specific details about the exam, but I'm sure everything we've learnt at the academy will be tested and put into account. It will be difficult, that much I am sure of."

The brunette nodded dismissively. The most important thing to worry about was training.

"I have a new technique. Will you help me perfect it?" She flashed the Uchiha a grin.

Something tugged at Sasuke through the back of his mind. Should he? It wasn't so bad spending time with her, after all. They were no longer pretending to date, so he wouldn't have to go to extra measures by holding lengthy conversations, or even talking in more than monosyllables either.

He'd made his decision.

"Alright. But just so you know, don't expect me to reveal to you any of my own techniques. The chances are we may be put in a situation where we have to fight each other, regardless of whether we're allies or not. So I can't afford to take any risks." The younger Uchiha verified carefully as he put his hands in his pockets.

Tenten raised an eyebrow but nodded even so. He had a valid point after all.

"It's called Rising Twin Dragons."

"Hn."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Sasuke-_kun_." Tenten smirked at him deviously with her chocolate-brown eyes as they both parted ways.


	7. Training Gone Wrong

**The Truth Shall Be Told**

**A/N**: I'm sure you're all just about ready to kill me. So I'll make this apology quick as to not provoke you guys any further! :P I am saddened by my own laziness and irresponsibility. I can only hope that you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me for the insanely late update! :D Yeah, lousy excuse, I know. ^^

Anyway, in this story, lady Tsunade is the current leader. And Sakura already knows chakra control so she has enormous strength but isn't Tsunade's apprentice. I'll be re-writing the chunin exams the way I want… of course I'll be keeping a few characters the same like Gaara. But I want Tenten to win her match in the chunin exams so she WILL! – Or maybe not! It all comes down to how evil I'm feeling.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.**

**Chapter Seven**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

When Tenten woke up the next morning, she couldn't help but smile. Sasuke would be helping her perfect her new technique! If she could master it, then she'd be unstoppable during the exams!

With a lazy yawn, she stretched and flexed her hands then got herself prepared for the day.

Now. Should she just go down to the Uchiha clan's private training grounds again, or would Sasuke expect her to meet him at her own training grounds?

* * *

Soft snoring could be heard from the wooden desk of the Yamanaka flower shop. Ino's blond head rested on the wooden desk, with her arms hanging over the edge lazily.

"Ohhhh, Saaaasuke-kun…" She drawled in her sleep. "That's riiiiiight, right there…" She murmured dreamily.

However, the blond kunoichi was rudely woken up when the door to the flower shop suddenly slammed open and a certain pinkette with killer-intent written all over her face stormed in.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME, PIG? HOW COULD YOU SLEEP AT A TIME LIKE THIS?" Sakura roared into her now awake friend's ear.

"IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD, WE HAVE A CHUNIN EXAMINATION IN A MATTER OF WEEKS!"

"W-Wha…" Ino spluttered, still half-asleep. "S-Sasuke-kun?"

Sakura face-palmed. When her hand eventually slipped from her face, a devilish smile cracked over her face.

"Would you like me to rephrase that, pig?" Sakura asked, hammering her fist against her other hand tauntingly. "….Cause I'll have a lot of fun… TEARING ALL YOUR HAIR OUT!"

Sakura's open threat seemed to have woken Ino up fully, and brought her back to her senses.

"You… you wouldn't…." Ino gasped in horror, and clutched her hair protectively.

"I would." Sakura said slowly, a devilish smile creeping up onto her lips.

"Well if you do… then I'll – I'll dye your hair orange in your sleep!" Ino challenged, regaining some of her confidence. "Then I'll cut it so short that even Jiraiya will confuse you as a boy!"

A vein popped at the corner of Sakura's head. Ino and her lousy open threats. We'll see about that. We'll see about that.

"Cut it out, pig. I know you'd never do all those things. Anyway, guess what?"

"Huh?" Ino said, perking up from having saying how she'd shave Sakura's head bald and super glue a chicken-head wig on the poor girl. "What?"

"Well, you see…your rumours _have_ become true, Ino. After my joint mission with Team Gai, I'm almost certain that Tenten and Sasuke _are_ an item!"

* * *

"Should I be waiting for him at the Uchiha compound…?" Tenten wondered quietly as she sat on a stray tree-branch, just outside Team Gai's training grounds. Sasuke hadn't uttered a word to her the previous day about where to meet him for the next training session. She figured maybe he'd come and find her, so she waited patiently. Her chocolaty-brown gaze looking around absentmindedly. It was around a few hours after dawn and the sun was shining brightly above the trees.

No one appeared to be there yet, but she didn't want to hang around for too long – what if one of her teammates came down to train and found her waiting around here? How was she supposed to explain to them that she was spending her two days off, training with Uchiha Sasuke?

She sighed. 'How about that vacation then, ne?' Inner drawled lazily. For some reason, Inner's comments have begun to sound less taunting and more reasonable of late.

"I guess it's time to leave." Tenten muttered, now resounded to the new change of plans. It was time to launch operation Infiltrate the Uchiha compound and capture Uchiha Sasuke! She didn't care what type of obstacles she would face, Tenten was determined to begin training and master her Rising Twin Dragons technique prompt. Or maybe she was simply inpatient and needed to throw a kunai at _something_.

An evil smile broke out over her face, as she dropped down from the branch, and was about to 'poof' away, when a cold voice from behind her spoke.

"Tenten."

In response, the brunette yelped in surprise and spun around.

"N-Neji! Don't ever scare me like that again!"

Standing a few inches behind her, was none other than the strong, pearly-eyed Hyuga. He was standing so closer to her that she could hear his strong and steady breathing.

Neji was most likely there to train, and as early as always. It's not that she hadn't expected him to be there – Neji was as bad as Lee when it came to training – even though this was the second day of their supposed two-day off. It's just that it made more sense for him to be at his clan's compound, training with Hiashi-sama or something. Why come to your teams training grounds (so early) and without even a sparring partner?

"I thought I'd find you here, Tenten" He said to her, with a tone that made Tenten feel as if he had something big planned out for her. She stood correct for once.

"You have much explaining to do for me. Starting from our first encounter three days ago before Ino and Sakura dropped by and interrupted."

Oh boy. If only Tenten had only left a minute sooner – she wouldn't be tangled up in this current… dilemma.

'You're one unlucky girl, ne?" Inner teased smugly.

If she told Neji the truth… how would he react?

"U-Um, well…" She began shakily, not able to meet his gaze. "It's a long story, but if you must know;" She continued, hoping that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. "The rumours concerning me and Uchiha Sasuke were untrue." Tenten clarified, deciding to leave out the part where she confronted Sasuke and they came to an agreement about pretending to date in order to make it seem realistic when they pretended to break up. Scratch that because they called it off yesterday and decided against it. So she carried on from there. "But when I _encountered _Sasuke yesterday, we u-um…. Came to an agreement."

"Agreement?" Neji repeated with a dangerous tone. "What agreement?"

Tenten chuckled nervously, clearly anxious as she chose her next words carefully.

"Neji…. May I ask you for a favour?"

This seemed to catch the Hyuga prodigy off guard, but he nodded wearily anyway. "Very well…."

"Don't get angry."

Neji narrowed his eyes, wondering just what it was she was plotting behind his back.

The flustered brunette fidgeted under his cold gaze as she continued. "Here's the thing. I'm kinda training with Uchiha Sas –"

Tenten stopped in mid-sentence to look up at Neji quizzically. He wasn't even listening to her anymore. In fact, he wasn't even looking at her. He seemed… distracted.

The atmosphere around them had changed drastically, and suddenly, her teammate felt so…. distant.

Neji's cold expression hardened and he clenched his fists angrily.

'….Anger issues, ne?' Inner commented silkily.

"Wha…." Tenten began, but Neji didn't appear to even acknowledge her presence, or that she standing right in front of him anymore. He simply continued to glare at something far behind her.

"Turn around." He suddenly commanded in a bitter tone, one that sent shivers down her spine. She was about to willingly do so, when a new voice froze her to the spot.

"Tenten." The brunette gulped and took a brave glance out of the corner of her eye.

She gulped again.

"S-Sasuke… w-what are you doing here?" She stuttered, and immediately wished she'd just kept her mouth shut.

'Why else would he be here, ne?' Inner roared angrily through bared teeth.

Indeed, the newcomer was Sasuke. Onyx eyes glared out at them both, as he calmly approached.

Things were about to get really complicated. Dealing with Neji was enough, but now this? There was only so much a kunoichi could do! Sasuke's timing couldn't have been any worse.

"Uchiha." Neji acknowledged coldly.

"Hyuga." Sasuke murmured grudgingly as he came to a halt in front of them.

"Hn."

"Hn."

Sasuke suddenly turned to Tenten and gave her an unreadable expression before he spoke. "Have you informed Hyuga here, about your new training schedule?"

Tenten bit back the urge to wish that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. Again.

"…W-Well you see, I was just about to when …"

Tenten stopped to look up and see that they weren't listening to her. Again.

Instead, Neji had activated his byakugan and gotten into a stance, while Sasuke reacted to the offensive gesture by swiftly activating Sharingan.

"Leave. Now." Sasuke instructed her.

Tenten was more than happy to oblige, but what was the problem? Were the two rivals going to fight? Why so sudden? What about _her_ training? And most importantly, who did he think he was, ordering her around?

"Hey, Neji… you wouldn't mind explaining to me just what is going on?" Tenten questioned the Hyuga with a raised eyebrow. "…because I'm really confused. Now that you know, I'm training with Sasuke today. So if you don't mind, could you give me back my sparring partner? I –"

"I'LL KILL HIM!" Neji spat angrily, thrusting Tenten aside as he began to charge at Sasuke. "How dare you manipulate Tenten into agreeing to train with you! That damn Sharingan! I bet you set her up in a genjutsu!"

It all happened so quickly, that Tenten didn't realise what had happened until her back collided with a nearby tree, and only then did she realise that this was the full force of Neji's strength.

Amazing, she noted, minus the fact that she was on the receiving end. For a few minutes, she closed her eyes and waited until her head stopped throbbing, before reopening her eyes. What just happened?

Wait.

Did Neji… push her away… with unnecessary force?

She shot the battling Hyuga a fierce glare – not that he noticed, and dusted herself off.

What was going on? Why were they fighting? Ugh! Rivalry!

"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!" She heard, along with "Eight Trigrams Sixty-four palms!"

Well, there was no way she had a chance of splitting them up and stopping the fight. She clearly wasn't wanted. And she'd been looking forward to trying out the Rising Twin Dragons technique all morning.

Oh well.

The brunette turned away and headed towards Konoha. Maybe she could find someone else to train with her?

As she idly stumbled through the village, Tenten tested out her options through her mind.

Neji and Sasuke were currently…. unavailable as you put it. And it was probably wise to leave them to their… business. Lee and her sensei had probably wondered off elsewhere to do something unquestionably insane. Sakura wasn't the person she'd consider as sparring material – she didn't want to accidently kill one of her friends. Naruto might make a decent opponent because of his multi shadow clone jutsu – that'd be great target practice (especially if the targets can move).

'You're really considering that baka, ne?'

Tenten had made up her mind. She really needed to master rising Twin Dragons. She was desperate.

So where would she find the blond knucklehead? Tenten didn't know Naruto well enough to know where he lived. But she knew one thing.

His weakness was ramen.

:: oOo ::

A few minutes later, Tenten was just approaching the Ichiraku ramen restaurant when she heard two familiar voices arguing from somewhere nearby. She strained her ears to try and pick out the voices more clearly and identify them.

That is, only to have both owners of the voices almost tackle her to the ground and yell in her ears.

"We figured we'd find you here!"

Tenten slowly turned her head around to face Ino and Sakura. She sweat dropped.

"Hey there, Tenten." Sakura greeted nervously. Tenten wondered why. Did they want to ask her something? If so, what?

And did they just so happen to _conveniently _stumble upon her?

"Well, you see…" Sakura began, her emerald-green eyes darting here and there.

"Just spit it out already, fore-head!" Ino scolded the pinkette. "I'm sure Tenten won't mind." Ino muttered.

Tenten raised an eyebrow.

"Okay. I'm just gonna come out clean and say it!" Sakura declared, more in more of a way to encourage herself than anyone else.

"The rumours… I'm sure you'll want to know just who it was responsible for starting them; they _are_ about you of course. Well, you see… it was lady Tsunade. I know it's probably hard to believe, but it's true. I guess it was her because she gave Ino the idea to 'liven up the village' with some juicy gossip." Sakura shot Ino a quick glare before continuing.

"So Ino decided that Sasuke would have to be one of her victims, because she wanted revenge for when he turned her down…. for the _eleventh_ TIME!" The pinkette shrieked. "GIVE IT A BREAK, PIG!"

Ino shrugged nonchalantly and waved a dismissive hand at her flustered friend. When Sakura calmed down, she turned back to Tenten who was wondering how it ended up as her being Ino's second victim.

"So after Ino had made up her mind that Sasuke would be centred in her rumour, there needed to be someone else too…. because Ino couldn't resist torturing only one person. And it so happened that, because you were the only other genin kunoichi that was in Konoha at the time that she would dare use, she decided to choose you." Sakura said with a tired sigh.

Tenten narrowed her eyes. "Um… is that it?"

"Well, duhhh!" Ino giggled. "And you've gotta admit, it was a genius setup!"

The brunette just shook her head. So Tsunade, the lady she'd idolised for so long, had been responsible all along?

"Well thanks for telling me all that, I think I'll be going now." Tenten tried to make a hasty step to the ramen stand, but to her dismay, was stopped.

"Not so fast!" Ino said sharply, effectively stopping the bun-haired kunoichi's movements. The look Ino was giving Tenten made her scared for her own well-being and extremely weary of the blond's capabilities… and her drastic mood swings.

"You should probably thank me for it, but I bet you just forgot. You _did_ take advantage of the rumours and are now officially dating Sasuke-kun, after all, or at least that's what fore-head here tells me, but –"

Sakura suddenly clamped her hand over Ino's mouth then, in a bid to stop her friend from saying any more.

"What Ino means is…. is that…." Sakura gave up. Her cover was blown. After the joint mission with team Gai, the pinkette was certain that Ino's rumours had become true and informed her blond friend of this… only for it to backfire right now. What if it wasn't true? Would Tenten kill her?

"LET GO OF ME, FORE-HEAD!" Ino screeched, lurching forwards and out of Sakura's grasp. Tenten could only watch in horror.

All this drama so early in the morning? Really?

When Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno get into a fight, it's usually best to just back away slowly and pretend you were never there. But when it came to Tenten, she doses the exact opposite.

"Cut it out! Both of you!" The brunette yelled, but it was no use. She grimaced at how viciously they were trying to claw at each other's faces.

If she slipped away stealthily, they wouldn't notice. She just needed to go unnoticed. Tenten wanted to begin to launch this plan into action when something else caught her attention.

Scratch that, _someone _caught her attention.

Itachi Uchiha caught her attention.

The Anbu captain (since the age of 14), was walking on the other side of the wide dirt-path, and although his impassive gaze was centred ahead of him, she knew that he was aware of her presence.

Well, who wouldn't when you're standing right next two brawling and screeching kunoichi?

This was perfect.

Ino and Sakura were too preoccupied with fighting. Itachi was just there.

Tenten no longer needed Naruto to help her master Rising Twin Dragons.

Without her permission, her feet began to walk. In a matter of moments she was approaching the older Uchiha before she was right in front of him. Itachi stopped and raised an eyebrow at her. His deep onyx eyes bore into her eyes with intensity and only then did she begin to feel giddy.

He wasn't Anbu captain for nothing, after all.

"Itachi-san… m-may I ask you for a favour?" Tenten asked shyly.

Ino and Sakura had stopped their fighting to stare at Tenten and Itachi with disbelief. They gaped.

The older Uchiha's dark eyes remained impassive, but Tenten could spot the tinniest flicker of curiosity in them this time. And also… amusement?

"Of course, Tenten." He said, his eyes softening a touch.

"Please can you help me master Rising Twin Dragons?"

* * *

Itachi Uchiha had declined, of course. But really, what had she been expecting? He was a busy man, had other commitments elsewhere… what had she been thinking? Obviously he didn't have time to train some random genin kunoichi. Tenten was seriously considering going back to Naruto… but then again, maybe she could do it on her own?

The brunette brought out a kunai and made a shoot for the target dummy in front of her.

CHUNK!

After being rejected, she returned to her team's training grounds, only to find that it looked like it had been hit by a bomb multiple times. This was the destruction of the Byakugan and Sharingan combined. Scary.

But when she got there, Neji and Sasuke were nowhere to be seen. It had been completely deserted.

She only hoped they were at least still alive. Scratch that; she hoped their bodies were still intact.

The bun-haired kunoichi's thoughts were broken when she heard a twig snap to her far left, somewhere from the forest. When she looked, nothing was there.

It must have been her imagination, but did she see a shadow leaking through the trees? As she took a step towards the forest, a hand grabbed her wrist sharply.

Stunned, she let out a shrill scream, but stopped immediately.

Her eyes widened.

The other person met her gaze with a frown.

"What? I promised you I'd help you to master Rising Twin Dragons, didn't I?"

It was Sasuke. Apart from the occasional bruise and scratch, he looked perfectly… healthy.

For some reason, Tenten was unable to speak, or pull herself away from his gaze for that matter.

Those beautiful, crimson-red orbs with three dark tomoe, like swirls. They were so enchanting…

When Tenten remembered that this was not the right time to lapse in Day Dream Land, she shook off the thoughts. Right… now she was ready to give him a piece of her mind. Unfortunately, it came out as this:

"….N-Neji….Rivalry….Fighting….D-Dead….Injured….Hospital….Rising Twin Dragons….Rumours….Ino….Sakura….I-Itachi-san!"

Sasuke raised his eyebrow when the brunette uttered his brother's name, and her momentary absence of sanity. But of course, the young Uchiha wasn't about to show any mercy.

"Is that all? Now do you mind saying it in sentences?" Sasuke asked coldly.

"O-Oh… what I meant to say was you owe me some training, Uchiha."

The brunette's brown eyes brightened. Why? Because she could finally get to work on her ultimate technique.

And maybe she'd get to penetrate Sasuke's cold demeanour and get him to open up to her in the process?


	8. Accidental Kiss KAWAIIII!

**A/N: **Here is chapter eight! I wanted to post it yesterday, but unfortunately by then it was like midnight so I was too tired to… but **Thank you **all so much for the reviews and continued support! :D

As always, ENJOY! :)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Chapter Eight**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

Tenten had mastered Twin Rising Dragons. Finally.

She couldn't believe it. This Uchiha really was something else.

"You got what you wanted, now it's your turn to help me." Sasuke stated plainly, eyeing the panting brunette intensely.

"Fine, fine, I guess that sounds about right. Thank you for helping me, Sasuke." Tenten leaned against the tree trunk Sasuke was also leaning on, a bit annoyed that he hadn't even broken a sweat.

This boy was serious material. No wonder he walked out of his battle with Neji still alive and body intact. Tenten was certain that Sasuke could pass the chunin exams with ease.

Sasuke spent a moment in silence staring off into the distance with a stoic expression before he finally spoke.

"If you can still remember, I told you that we should call off our dating façade because I didn't think it would suite my plans too well. Now I'm going to tell you why."

Tenten looked at Sasuke curiously. She was interested in what he had to say.

"My father has been harassing me about marriage and I've currently been trying to dodge these harassments. That night you saw me at my teams training grounds I was trying to avoid my father. I have no interest in marriage at the moment and need to somehow resolve this annoying case."

Tenten's eyes widened. Marriage? How awful! She knew that Sasuke had other plans, he seemed to always be distant and focused on something he wanted to achieve.

She had a horrible feeling that it had something to do with Itachi.

Worrying about marriage would simply get in his way. She could see the problem now.

Anyway, why was he telling her all this? It's not that she didn't care, of course she did! Sasuke was a comrade, but she didn't understand how _she_ could help him with this situation.

"Oh, that's awful, Sasuke." Tenten said sympathetically. "But I still don't understand."

Sasuke didn't acknowledge her words and continued.

"So as I was saying; at first I thought the dating façade and the spreading rumours might get to my father and make him believe I knew who I wanted to court,"

Tenten blushed and felt her cheeks burn, but Sasuke didn't seem to notice.

"but I soon realised that my father wouldn't be as naïve as to believe such things."

Tenten nodded in understanding, but with the movement, her head began to feel dizzy. Maybe she was more exhausted than she thought? She leaned even deeper against the tree for more support, but then her hand slipped and she fell.

Everything went in slow motion from there. Sasuke turned at the sudden movement in time to see Tenten begin to fall. But he was too slow. He only had enough time to hold out his arms to catch her. Everything went as planned, except a minor flaw.

Tenten landed in Sasuke's arms in a daze and alarmed. As he held her up, she tried to support herself but her legs weren't cooperating and she tripped over her own two feet. When she lurched forward, the only space between them was a few inches.

Their lips connected.

* * *

Itachi sighed heavily. He was on his way to the Hokage tower to report in for a mission when Tenten, Sasuke's supposed training partner approached him and asked for his help on one of her new jutsus for the upcoming chunin exams. She had called it Rising Twin Dragons. He would have freely accepted, had he not been on his way to report to duty.

Itachi loved Konoha so much that he'd protect it with his life. That's the only reason why he became a ninja. Not to impress his clan.

The Godaime, Lady Tsunade had given him the task of patrol duty, again. So he darted off to secure the perimeter, and forests. While scanning the forest area, Itachi spotted Tenten again. She looked flustered over something and was subconsciously making gushing gestures towards all the wreckage around her, probably due to a recent sparring battle.

From the shape of the craters scattered across the ground, Itachi summarised that one of the opponents must have been a Hyuga. And looking at the burn marks scarring the grass and trees, Itachi summarised that the other opponent must have been an Uchiha.

He was amused by her reaction and decided to continue to watch her.

She suddenly whipped out a kunai and effortlessly threw it at a target, not bothering to check afterwards whether it was a bull's eye.

Itachi was amazed when he saw that it had been a perfect shot. She has good accuracy, he noted silently.

He then decided that he'd get a closer look, so he was about to when an idea struck him. He wanted to test out her observation skills and senses. He stealthily came nearer to her location, just near enough for her to hear him.

Then he purposely stepped on a twig.

For a moment, the girl looked towards him, but only in his general direction.

Her senses and observation needed working on, Itachi thought.

So while she was still staring dazedly at the forest, Itachi decided to test her further. He (not so stealthily) made his way even closer, passing in front of trees and lingering in places, but his onyx eyes remained trained on hers, even though she could not entirely see him.

Itachi smirked when she began to take a step towards the forest, but was stopped when someone's hand wrapped around her wrist. Both Itachi and Tenten had looked up to see Sasuke. Sasuke was glaring straight at Itachi and Itachi was quite astonished that Sasuke was able to spot him immediately.

But then Itachi noticed that his little brother had sharingan activated.

No wonder.

Deciding that he'd played enough and it was about time to resume his duty anyway, Itachi left in the blink of an eye, slightly disappointed that he didn't get to see much more of what Tenten could do.

* * *

Ino and Sakura were still standing outside the ramen stand. Finally they had stopped fighting, but both were on the verge of losing their tempers.

And it didn't help when Naruto leisurely walked out of the ramen stand, joining the two hot-tempered kunoichi.

"Sakura-chan! Ino-chan!" Naruto greeted cheerfully, scratching the back of his neck.

"Naruto! I have been waiting for you this whole time! We need to meet Kakashi-sensei so that we can train, baka!"

Naruto bowed his head guilty, but suddenly jerked his head up and looked around.

"Hey… where is Sasuke-teme then?" Naruto asked, confused. Weren't they all going to train as a team?

Sakura looked at Ino and they both shared a knowing look.

"Tenten…" They both murmured darkly in union.

"Huh?" Naruto grunted obliviously. "What has Tenten got to do with this?"

* * *

Neji rested by the lake running through his compound and stared intensely at the sky. Whenever a bird would fly by, he'd shoot it a cold death glare.

But this time Neji's thoughts were elsewhere. In fact, they were trained on a certain bun-haired teammate of his.

He couldn't believe that she'd chosen to train with the Uchiha instead of him. It's not like that brat was any better than him, anyway.

So why? Neji couldn't understand. He was still puzzled. That's why he'd assumed that the Uchiha had forced her into it with genjutsu. But the Uchiha clarified that Tenten wanted to train with him of her own free will.

Neji scowled.

After their fierce battle, Neji was disgusted to be in that Uchiha brats' presence for any longer, so he left and had stayed here ever since.

Why did it matter though? It was okay for Tenten to _want _to train with the Uchiha, right? It's not like Neji cared about what she decided to do, even if he didn't entirely agree…

He had his uncle, Hiashi-sama. He could train with him instead. In fact, all this time he'd been training with Tenten, he'd forgotten that he didn't _need_ his teammates.

He had his uncle whom could train him. After all, he was a Hyuga. It only made sense.

So why?

* * *

Tenten didn't know what to do or how she'd gotten herself into this mess.

She had never planned to have her first kiss like this. Or with _Sasuke Uchiha_.

'KAWAIIII! ATTA'BOY!' Inner roared victoriously.

Immediately, Tenten and Sasuke pulled away. Tenten had to turn away before Sasuke could see her cheeks burning furiously. She felt like dying right then and there.

How mortifying.

"Tenten," Sasuke said quietly, breaking her out of her thoughts. The brunette didn't reply or even look up.

"Look at me." Sasuke commanded seriously, but still, Tenten didn't budge.

Without warning, a soft hand gently grabbed her chin and lifted it up so that their eyes locked.

Still blushing furiously, Tenten was surprised at what he said next.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his deep onyx eyes full of concern.

"I-I'm fine, Sasuke." Tenten managed to stutter, still slightly embarrassed about what had just happened. And how she'd nearly fainted.

Sasuke continued to stare at her intensely, before letting go of her chin and looking away.

Tenten was dazed. He was behaving as if they hadn't just KISSED.

Tenten didn't know whether to be relived or hurt.

Relived that he was pretending it never happened for her sake, to save her the mortification. It had been all her fault after all.

Or hurt because he simply didn't care.

But he did care. Well, about her well-being at least. Maybe not her emotions.

She did nearly faint on him, after all. And he had just asked if she was okay.

But Tenten was too hooked up in her thoughts to notice the odd glimmer in Sasuke's eyes. It showed anger, annoyance, and pain. Fortunately, it wasn't towards her.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard foot falls and saw Sasuke beginning to walk away.

Phew. Tenten released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. But before she fully relax, there was still something she needed to ask him.

"Sasuke!"

He stopped but didn't turn around.

"I still owe you. What was it you were saying earlier? About trying to avoid your father's radar on marriage? How can I help you?" Tenten called, completely forgetting herself.

Although she couldn't see it because he still had his back to her, Sasuke smirked.

"Don't worry about it."

:: oOo ::

Sasuke walked slowly towards Konoha. He knew he was slightly late meeting up with his team, but it couldn't be helped. Sasuke had promised to help Tenten master her Rising Twin Dragons and he wasn't about to break it for the likes of the dobe and his pink-haired fangirl. And he didn't count on worrying about what Kakashi thought of his lateness either.

But something was really bothering Sasuke. Why had Itachi been there?

Sasuke's eyes were suddenly filled with anger, annoyance, and pain.

_Itachi…_

When he returned to Tenten, Itachi had been there, concealed with in the forests but at a close range. Sasuke had to admit, if his sharingan hadn't already been activated, then he mostly likely wouldn't have spotted him.

A frown fell upon the younger Uchiha's face, making him look oh-so-adorable.

Sasuke continued walking, until the ramen stand came into view. He saw a flash of long pink hair and a spiky blonde head. Then he noticed what looked to be Ino Yamanaka walking away, possibly off to join her own teammates.

"Hey Sasuke-teme! Where've you been?" The dobe yelled annoyingly loud, running up to Sasuke along with Sakura.

"Quit being such an ear ache, baka! Can't you see that Sasuke-kun finds it annoying too?" Sakura yelled, pounding her fist on the dobe's head.

"Where is Kakashi-sensei?" Sasuke asked boredly.

'CHA! Hurry up Kakashi-sensei or you've had it!' Inner Sakura roared, pumping up her fists to emphasize her threat.

"Oh, well as usual he hasn't turned up yet – " Sakura began to explain, but was interrupted when there was a loud 'poof' from above their heads.

Looking up, they saw their silver-haired jonin sensei squatted on a roof top, with his hand up in greeting, wearing his signature mask and holding his perverted book.

"Hey guys, good morning. Sorry I'm late, afraid I got lost on the path of life…"

"WHAT!" Sakura and Naruto screamed unison, both falling flat on their faces. Sasuke just rolled his eyes.

**A/N: **Okay I'll be stopping hereee! :) If any of you guys have been recently re-watching the Naruto series, (or you have a brilliant memory) then you'll be familiar with what's happening and what'll happen next – I'm talking about the whole D-rank dog catching mission, then Naruto encountering Konohamaru. But of course I'll be leaving all that out, and instead pick up on the part when they encounter…um….some sand ninja (coughgaaracough)-… so ahem, yeah. The chunin exams are about to begin!... Sorta.

But I'll try to do some of my own OC's soon!

Don't forget to leave a review & Byebye! :D

Yuuki


	9. Tenten the Uchiha elder

**A/N:** Chapter nine is finally here! :) Thank you to all those who reviewed, please ENJOY! :D

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Chapter Nine**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

After that day, Tenten realised that she and Sasuke were friends; Even though the words 'Sasuke' and 'friends' didn't go too well together. They just looked out for each other from time to time during sleazy low-level missions. No words were exchanged, just silent acknowledgements and short greetings at best.

It was something.

Months had gone by, she'd returned to getting into the routine of training and going on missions. Fun indeed. Especially when all the missions are D-Ranks. They probably had to do D-Ranks just because the chunin exams were slowly approaching and they didn't want any of the genin killed during some mission when they can always die in the Forest of death, of course.

Anyhow, the first training session back with her team, Neji had seemed shocked that Tenten was there. He even questioned her why she was there and not training with 'the Uchiha'(*Who actually has a name and that is Sasuke). Seriously, it wouldn't kill him to just call Sasuke by his first name, would it? Clan rivalry… ugh.

So Tenten told him that she was only training with Sasuke for the supposed two-day off thingy. When Tenten explained this to Neji, she thought she saw relief wash over his features.

She must have been imagining it.

Since then, their teamwork as a team had improved, as well as their speed and stamina. Neji could even do this super cool technique which was practically impenetrable. And Lee's kicks were getting stronger, and his speed was incredible. It was a shame that he still couldn't beat Neji though.

And the chunin exams was only a day away now.

* * *

Sasuke was angry. Kakashi had assigned their team to so many useless missions – all D-Ranks, and he didn't have the time to waste on them. Or his annoying teammates either.

There were still ninja out there who could out-fight him…

He needed to hone his skills so he could beat them…

Kakashi looked up at the sky and watched as a hawk soared through the air before turning back to his students. "Alright, guys," He said boredly, "Let's call it a day. You can beat each other to a pulp some other time. Anyway, I have to file my report on this mission."

'I bet he just wants to carry on reading that dirty book of his!' Inner Sakura yelled, but on the outside, Sakura looked perfectly calm and innocent.

Sasuke decided that he'd spent enough time hanging around with his annoying team. What he wanted was to return home so that he could get some peace.

"Whatever, I'm outta here." Sasuke stated plainly as he walked away, making sure to ignore Sakura's pleads for him to wait.

* * *

Tenten was alone in her team's training grounds. It was around mid-afternoon and she liked to do some stretches and extra target practise after her team left.

CHUNK!

She was so engrossed with her practice that she didn't notice the silent shadow sneaking up behind her…

"Tenten."

"Ahh!" The brunette spun around in alarm and threw her kunai at the person.

"Calm down," Said the voice, "it's me."

Standing closely behind her was Sasuke. The kunai she'd thrown was lodged uselessly in the tree behind Sasuke.

"You know," Tenten began with a smirk, "if I wasn't taken by surprise then, that kunai should be lodged in your head right now."

Sasuke leaned against the tree, purposely making an effort to be directly underneath the kunai; he wanted her to remember that her usually flawless aim had failed this time round.

"So…" Tenten began, shooting Sasuke a blank expression. "What do you want? Did you come here like a cry baby because you're scared of exams tomorrow, huh?"

Sasuke didn't move an inch and the smirk on his face faded. His dark raven-coloured eyes pierced into Tenten's honey-brow eyes with a new intensity.

'What is he thinking about?' Tenten wondered. 'Do I have something on my face?'

Tenten looked away and pretended to be busy gathering up her weapons; anything to not stare at his deep onyx eyes, or she'd probably faint from their intensity.

"Be careful,"

Tenten perked up at his sudden warning.

"Be careful what?"

Sasuke shook his head and muttered something that sounded like 'your slow to catch on'.

"Oh, you mean the chunin exams?" Tenten said, ignoring his muttered comment.

Sasuke nodded.

"Hai, I'll try my best not to get killed, Uchiha. And I'd ask you the same, but well, you're Sasuke Uchiha… THE Sasuke Uchiha. Ha! I'd fear more for your opponents' well-being… heh heh.."

"You're rambling – it's a sign of anxiousness. If you're worried about me, then you're not doing a good job with hiding it." Sasuke stated as he folded his arms over his chest and began smirking again.

"Ya know Sasuke, you're not intimidating anyone by doing _that_," Tenten deadpanned as she referred to his folding of arms. "it's so not working. In case you haven't realised, I'm no fangirl of yours." Tenten teased.

A few moments of silence passed as the brunette tried to muster up the courage to ask him something, but it was like he could read her mind and beat her to it.

"Do you remember how I told you about my father and his harassments on marriage?"

Tenten looked at him blankly until all the memories came gushing back to her. She blushed lightly – that was the same day they'd, well, ya know –

' – KISSED! K-I-S-S-E-D! JACKPOT!' Inner cheered victoriously. Oh, Tenten couldn't forget that day, believe her. Every moment of the day, Inner took it up as a responsibility to make sure that Tenten _never_ forgot her first kiss with Sasuke.

"Are you even listening anymore?" Sasuke inquired with slight annoyance in his tone.

"Huh? Did you say something?"

Sasuke tried to glare at her, but she just looked too innocent and…

He brushed the thoughts aside and continued.

"I've come up with a better resolve…" Sasuke said, as he looked up at the oblivious looking brunette and smirked. "… and you still owe me for helping you master your technique."

"Now here's what I want you to do…"

oOo

They both walked in silence towards the Uchiha compound. Tenten was cringing the whole way, and she could tell that Sasuke was struggling to keep his expression impassive too.

"Whose idea was this again?" Tenten growled.

Sasuke ignored her.

"Just try not to mess this up." Sasuke said.

Tenten growled even more, and muttered "Easier said than done, Uchiha…"

Tenten looked like a one hundred year old women, literally. She had on the traditional Japanese kimono and added extras such as expensive antiques that were probably worth more than her life's savings.

She looked like an elder. An Uchiha elder.

Tenten suddenly stopped in her tracks. "What if this transformation technique wears off? I'll get caught and possibly put to death for doing this! I can't believe you convinced me to imitate an Uchiha elder!"

Sasuke turned to look at Tenten with a hard glare – a glare so cold and frightening, it could easily send a grown man crying to his mama.

Tenten stumbled back.

"Don't worry, you'll look great." He said, and Tenten couldn't help but notice the silent sarcasm.

"Hey! It's not my fault that you had to go and choose the oldest and ugliest elder, was it?"

"Look Tenten, I had to choose this particular elder because she's the only person my father has ever listened to. If anyone is going to convince my father to stop the marriage harassments, it's her."

Tenten didn't know whether to be astonished and at awe by this incredible woman for being able to get through to such a stubborn man – much less the Uchiha clan's head.

Or scared.

"We're approaching the compound." Sasuke said with a hint of warning.

"Okay, okay, I've got it! I know the: Don't-do-something-foolish-or-uncharacteristic rule."

When they walked through the compound, many of the Uchihas would stop to bow at Tenten. Tenten tried to ignore it and act as if this happens to her on a daily basis, but it was kinda hard.

'I could get used to this, huh ne?' Inner commented happily, clearly enjoying it.

Sasuke was walking slightly behind her, and would occasionally murmur the directions to his home.

"You're doing great. We're nearly there." He whispered, and Tenten tried not to blush at his praise.

As they got deeper and deeper into the compound, Tenten began to get nervous by the number of suspicious glares she was receiving as well.

Luckily, they got to Sasuke's home before anyone could catch on to the act Tenten had managed to pull off.

"You wait here." Sasuke commanded as he entered his home – it was huge and surprisingly close the river that ran through the compound.

Tenten kinda liked the Uchiha compound. The first time she came, it was a bit intimidating with all the glares of so many pairs of dark eyes. And it was slightly isolated from the rest of the Leaf village.

But, even so, she enjoyed looking out at the river, or being able to walk around the compound and be surrounded by blood relatives. It was sorta cool.

Tenten was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice a certain Uchiha coming towards her…

_Meanwhile_

Sasuke found his mother cooking in the kitchen.

"Okaasan,"

"Oh Sasuke dear, your early!" Mikoto said, smiling warmly at her son. She made a move to ruffle his raven-coloured hair, but Sasuke dodged her hand as if it was a venomous snake. Mikoto chuckled; Sasuke never allowed her to do that nowadays.

"Is father home?"

Mikoto shook her head. "He left for a meeting in Suna a few hours ago. He won't be back until a few days, I would imagine."

Sasuke nodded. "I understand."

….

Tenten didn't realise that there was someone standing in front of her until said person chuckled softly. When she looked up she nearly gasped, but managed to hold it in and kept her composure. She was going to say something, but didn't trust herself to speak, so she tried to look as if she was interested in the potted plants lined up outside the house instead.

Anywhere but his face.

Tenten thought she heard some more soft chuckling and when she looked up, indeed, she was right.

Uchiha Itachi was chuckling at her. Why? Could he see through her transformation jutsu? But his sharingan wasn't even activated?

Tenten stopped cringing. Her blood froze.

Itachi fixed his eyes on Tenten and lifted up his hand. He reached out to Tenten and…

…He flicked her… forehead?

Suddenly, a distinctive 'poof' sounded, as the transformation jutsu cancelled, and Tenten was brought back to her normal appearance. Her cover was officially blown.

After that, she expected to hear something along the lines of:

"What do you THINK you are doing?"

Or maybe even, "What you did was an act of criminal offence; I am going to take you to the Uchiha police force."

But for some reason, Tenten heard neither. When she stole a glance at the young Anbu captain, he was… smiling at her?

"What brings you here Tenten-san?" He said.

Tenten looked at him and saw that his dark eyes were curious. She cringed.

"I was just – Hey wait a minute! Aren't you going to ask me why I was pretending to be an elder?" Tenten spluttered. She was really confused now.

Itachi shook his head. "I'm more interested in why you're here. Did you come to visit Sasuke?"

"U-Um, hai! That's it!"

"Speak of the devil…" She thought she heard Itachi mutter. Tenten looked and saw Sasuke standing at the doorway, a cold glare fixed on the older Uchiha.

Tenten backed away. "Okay I guess it's time I leave… heh heh…"

"No. Stay here." Tenten heard Itachi say.

"I don't believe that's your decision to make." Sasuke countered coldly.

Before anymore could be said, the sound of a lady's voice filled their ears. "Sasuke-kun! Itachi-kun! Come inside! It's almost about to rain and dinners ready!"

The two Uchiha brothers ignored their mother and continued their glaring contest.

Tenten didn't dare move an inch; she was paralysed, you could say.

It felt like forever when they finally stopped.

"Why don't you be useful and walk her home; it's raining." Itachi stated plainly.

It was raining? Tenten hadn't noticed.

She looked at Sasuke and saw that he was soaking wet; long locks of dark raven-coloured hair clung to the sides of his face in a successful attempt to make him look even sexier.

'He looks gorgeous, am I right, ne?'

And turning to the infamous Itachi; well, that was another story. Tenten had to look away before she fainted.

"Let's go." She heard Sasuke murmur and he pulled her away by the arm.

They walked in silence as they made their way out of the Uchiha compound. Tenten was too frightened to even speak for a while, but she reminded herself that Sasuke wasn't so intimidating; especially when he was soaking wet.

"Ne, Sasuke. What happened back there? Do you have a grudge against Itachi? And..."

Before she could finish, he cut her short. "That doesn't concern you." He stated coldly.

Tenten frowned. She'd have to investigate that matter another time.

"Ok, touché much! Anyway, I'm sorry about ruining everything; I hadn't planned on Itachi confronting me and cancelling out the transformation…"

Sasuke turned away.

"Don't worry about it; my father wasn't in anyway."

Tenten nodded in understanding.

"Well, there's always another time, huh? I promise once the chunin exams are over, I'll try to help you again."

In a few minutes they had reached Tenten's apartment. She turned to Sasuke and was about to invite him inside – it was raining after all – when he grabbed her wrist and searched her eyes intensely.

"Stay away from Itachi."

Tenten blinked a few times. She yanked her wrist away.

"Why–"

"Just promise me you'll keep away from him." Sasuke said seriously.

Tenten was going to object, but then she remembered that Sasuke had helped her master her Rising Twin Dragons technique, and she hadn't been able to repay him today because the whole plan took an uneventful detour.

The least she could do was keep this one promise, right?

"Fine, I promise."

"Good." Sasuke said. "And one more thing. Don't die."

Tenten was about to punch him for underestimating her skills this much – okay, she wasn't one of the GREATEST kunoichi around, but she could hold her own right? The chunin exams couldn't be THAT bad, right?

However, when her fist connected with air, she knew that he was gone.

Tenten sighed as she walked inside her home.

"You better not die on me, either."

**A/N: **Gomennasai!^^ I am really sorry about the late update guys! I hope you liked this chapter and will leave a review. I actually wanted to start the chunin exams in this chapter, but I decided to hold back and have this sort of filler chapter instead. I promise I'll begin the chunin exams next chapter! I'll also add in some OCs too! :D

Thanks for reading,

Yuuki


	10. Your Worst Enemy

**The Truth Shall Be Told**

**A/N:** Ohayo! What? It's not morning? Oh… um, my bad! ^^ Well, for whatever time zone you're in at the moment, I wish you a good morning/afternoon/evening/night. Ok, now you're probably wondering "What is it now?!" Hn. Duh! ENJOY! THE CHUNIN EXAMS ARE **FINALLY **HERE! MANY OCs AND SURPRISES AWAIT YOU!:D

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) and my OCs belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Chapter Ten**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

"You're taking the chunin exams but you can't even pass us?" Tenten glared up at the two ninjas in front of her, but said nothing as she held Lee in her arms on the ground. A huge crowd of genin gathered around them in the narrow hallway.

"Why don't you just give up now before you get hurt?" Said one of the ninja. "Yeah, I think I hear ya mummy calling ya."

"Please let us through, we're supposed to go in there." Tenten said, as she stood up in front of Lee. She clenched her fists by her sides determinedly. If these punks didn't listen, she would be more than happy to pound some sense into their non-existent brains. Geez, the chunin exams hadn't even started yet and they were already facing problems.

Tenten was so wound up in her thoughts that she didn't see it coming when one of them punched her in the face. As she fell back, whispers of shock ran through the crowd around them. She caught onto things like, "Aw, that was harsh." And "Too right that was harsh." It was a shame that Tenten wasn't in the mood for anyone's sympathy.

"Did you say harsh?" Said one of the two ninja who weren't letting them pass. "Don't kid yourself. We're being nice by comparison. The exams are gonna make this look like a picnic."

'Why you!' Inner Tenten was bristling with anger. Not only were they not letting anyone pass, but one of them had the nerve to attack her! Tenten shot Neji –who was standing close beside her– an angered look.

"Some of you won't survive the exams. Others will be wrecked for life. Some of you may go crazy. For chunin its always life or death."

Tenten was just about to launch on them and rip the smirks from their ugly faces when she heard the hallway door opening. She turned around and saw Sakura along with Naruto and Sasuke entering the hallway. She almost felt relieved to see that the Uchiha had arrived. Then something weird happened. Sasuke suddenly looked at her and winked. For some reason, this simple action made Tenten's heart race, but her attention was directed back to the trouble makers in front of them.

"You think it's a joke? Chunin are qualified to lead missions." Continued the two scum ninja who were still trying to scare them all away. "The lives of your squad members are in your hands so you better be tough enough to take up the heat."

Tenten glared at them fiercely as she crouched beside Lee, supporting him with her arm. "Delicate little girls don't belong here." They said. Tenten clenched her fist. "Tch, your just in and out the herd, you won't pass anyway so just go home and play with dolls." They smirked smugly.

Tenten was seriously considering lashing out at them with a kunai, when Sasuke stood forward, seemingly unaffected by the ninja's speech.

"Nice speech. Now both of you step aside and let me through." Sasuke said coldly, glaring at them both with a hard intensity. "And while you're at it, reverse the genjutsu. We can see through your illusion anyway. We're going on the _third _floor."

Tenten shot Sasuke a disbelieving expression. What did he mean? Weren't they already on the third floor? Room 301 was just right there! They needed to hand in their applications to that room!

"Well, well. So you noticed the genjutsu huh?"

Sasuke suddenly turned to look at Sakura. "Go ahead. Tell them Sakura. I'm sure you saw through it before anyone else did."

"Huh?"

"You have the sharpest eyes and the best analytical skills on our squad. You must have seen this coming a mile away." Sasuke stated plainly, as if it were the most obvious thing ever.

Sakura looked shocked. "I must have…" She said uncertainly at first, but continued even stronger. "Well sure! Of course! Well I spotted it right away, this is only the second floor."

"Right!" Naruto shouted in agreement.

Tenten looked up at the sign saying 301 in a daze, as it suddenly changed to 201. It had all been an illusion?

"Huh, well aren't we the smart ones. So you noticed an illusion. Now let's see you deal with this!" The ninja with spikey black hair brought his leg out for a round-house kick at Sasuke, while Sasuke was about to counter with a powerful kick of his own. But just as their attacks were about to connect, a blur of green stopped them.

'Lee!' Tenten thought, as she noticed that he was gone from her side.

Lee had managed to get between them with his incredible speed, and had a strong hold on their ankles.

Sakura gasped. 'How did he do that?' She thought in confusion. 'I thought he was some weakling getting knocked around before by those trouble makers, but he's as fast as Sasuke.'

'He stopped my kick.' Sasuke thought with a frown. 'That's some chakra he's got in his arm.'

Despite the fact that Team Seven and Team Gai had been on many joint missions together in the past, they knew close to nothing about the opposing team's abilities –save Tenten who'd trained with Sasuke– as well as the fact that both teams had gotten stronger over the months of training for the exams. So it was a surprise that Lee had stopped the attack to them.

Tenten and Neji exchanged a look, before joining Lee's side as he released his grip on their ankles. Tenten could tell that Neji was annoyed that Lee had interfered in business that was not his own. The scowl gave it all away.

"Hey… what happened to the plan? I thought you were the one who said to keep the low profile and don't let anyone see our skill level." Neji scolded.

"I know but…" Lee trailed off helplessly, as his eyes went downcast and he hung his head low. Tenten stepped in.

"Never mind, it's over now. Forget it." Tenten supplied calmly, shaking her head sternly. The last thing they needed was an argument between two teammates right now.

'Hey, what happened to the bruises he had before...' Sasuke mused as he looked at Lee. 'They're gone. Were they fakes?'

Suddenly, Lee's head shot up as he looked at Sakura with a determined expression. Without warning, he approached the pinkette and began to ask her to be his girlfriend. As this event unfolded, Sasuke turned to the female to his right.

"Tenten." He acknowledged. The bun-haired kunoichi blinked, then shook her head and responded. "Hey Sasuke." He nodded, and was about to turn away when he noticed she had a bruise on her cheek.

"How did you get that bruise?" Sasuke asked, a deep frown settling on his face.

"Oh this?" Tenten rubbed her cheek unconsciously then flinched. "One of those trouble makers who wouldn't let us pass punched me, I guess." Tenten shrugged it off, but then she regretted saying it. Hadn't she made Sasuke a promise to be careful?

"Oh, it's nothing really." Tenten added nonchalantly, although she could tell he was not buying it.

"I would have taught that scum a good lesson if your teammate hadn't interfered." Sasuke folded his arms and closed his eyes in an attempt to calm the anger that he was feeling. That was strange… why did he feel so strongly about avenging Tenten?

Their attention was drawn away.

"Hey you. Over here."

Leaning cool against a wall was Neji.

"Uchiha, I was surprised to see _you_ here. Aren't you scared?" Neji taunted, shooting Sasuke quite a blood chilling glare.

"Tch, Hyuuga. I could say the same thing." They growled at each other, and Tenten couldn't help but stumble back. Clan rivalry… ugh.

Meanwhile, Lee and Naruto had their heads in the gutters. Wonder why? Was it because Sakura had meanly rejected Lee's girlfriend proposal, and Naruto was upset that no one had even acknowledged him yet?

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke, let's go!" Sakura said in a high, cheery voice. Sasuke gave Tenten one last glance before turning away and setting off with the rest of his Team.

'So this is the big bad chunin exams huh?' Sasuke smirked, as images of the people he wanted to fight flew through his mind.

This included Itachi. 'Once I'm done with these exams, I'll challenge him straight on, and beat him!'

.oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo.

When Sasuke and the rest of his team left, Tenten and the rest of Team Gai were about to take their leave too, when Tenten noticed that Lee wasn't following them.

"Huh Lee? Aren't you coming?"

"You two go on ahead without me." Lee said, his back to them, and began to walk in the opposite direction.

"What's that all about?" Tenten asked to Neji in confusion. That was a strange thing for him to do, even for Lee!

"I have no idea." He replied noncommittally, already walking away too.

Tenten was about to run after him when she had a bad feeling. It felt like someone was watching her? She swerved around and noticed a lone figure leaning against a wall in the shadows. For some strange reason, she thought that there was something familiar about this person…

"Tenten." Neji said, snapping her back to reality. She turned back to her teammate. "Are you alright?" He asked, his pearly eyes full of concern.

"Yes, I'm fine Neji. Shall we get going then?"

"Hn." He replied, changing back to his stoic and serious mode.

Tenten began to walk, but not before stealing another glance at the corner where she'd seen the figure.

Her eyes widened in shock when she saw that the space was empty. The person was gone.

Tenten had a really bad feeling, and she didn't like it.

It rang danger.

* * *

.oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo.

Lee returned to Tenten and Neji, after he'd unexplainably gone someplace else. He claimed that he'd fought and beat Sasuke Uchiha, but of course, none of them believed him.

"It is all but the truth!" Lee tried, but Tenten just ignored him. He'd been at it for the last ten minutes now. Besides, she had other pressing issues on her mind. Such as the creepy disappearing person she'd seen. The one who seemed so familiar yet a stranger at the same time…

"Shut up Lee!" Neji hissed in annoyance. "I mean it. Look, we're about to enter the room."

Neji opened the door and the trio stepped inside. Tenten nearly fainted. The room was full with shinobi from all over the Five Great Shinobi nations, different villages and counties, all genin level. As they walked by into a less crowded area, Tenten couldn't help but flinch at all the dirty looks they were receiving. She grimaced, knowing it was mostly likely caused by the 'vibrant' colour of Lee's jumpsuit. But she noticed that not all glares were directed to their team.

By the looks of it, the Rookie nine were making quite the commotion. They were with this guy who had round glasses and grey hair. He was crouched on the ground holding some strange cards in his hands. However, Tenten's attention was diverted away when Naruto started declaring something.

"RRRRRAGH!" The blonde knucklehead pointed a bold finger at everyone in the room.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! And I'm gonna beat every one of ya! Believe it!"

Tenten shook her head. Typical. Neji was doing the same too. Whereas Lee looked even more pumped up than ever.

"Do you mind if I stand with you?" Drawled a new voice.

Tenten looked up to see a boy about the same age as her, with lazy grey eyes and spikey amber-coloured hair. He was grinning at her.

"I'm Shun Atsawaki. It's nice to meet you, kunoichi-san." He said, offering her his hand to shake. Tenten blinked in confusion – who was this guy? – but accepted the friendly gesture anyway.

"Hi Shun-san, I'm Tenten. Nice to meet you too."

He then shot a glance at Neji and Lee who were standing beside her and glaring suspiciously at him. He merely smiled back.

"Are those your teammates?" He asked innocently. Tenten nodded. "This is Neji, and that is Lee." Tenten explained, gesturing to said ninjas. The orange haired boy grinned even wider. He freakishly reminded her of Naruto… except, there was an odd fakeness to him…

Shun was about to say something else when a hand appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around his neck, strangling him. Tenten looked up and realised that the hand belonged to a girl. She was a kunoichi and had long sky blue hair, and matching oceanic blue eyes.

"Ugh! Can't… breath! Get… off… me!" Shun choked out, trying to wrestle the crazy girl who was on his back, trying to strangle him.

"W-What's going on?" Tenten spluttered out helplessly, not sure if she should interfere before Shun got killed or not.

BANG!

The girl with blue hair landed flat on her behind. "How dare you do that Shun-teme!" She screeched.

"Oh puh-leeze! Like I'd care, Mira!" He shouted back to the girl. They both suddenly began having a cat fight on the ground, right at Tenten's heels.

"You nearly killed me!"

"No, you nearly killed me!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Tenten sweat dropped. Okaaay. This was… interesting.

"Um, Shun-san… you're kinda drawing a lot of attention to us… heh heh, just to let you know…" Tenten blurted out, smiling feebly while scratching her head at the people glaring at them.

"See what you've done now Mira, huh?!"

"No, you've got it all wrong! If you hadn't have sneaked away from me and Kensa, then I wouldn't have had to come down here to drag your behind all the way back, you baka! And what are you even doing all this way over here anyway?! Did you see a pretty girl, you pervert!" The blue haired girl was fuming with rage.

She looked ready to strangle him again.

"Now, now there… no need to get flustered!"

Shun got up and dusted himself down, making sure to ignore the glares that just about everyone in the room was giving him. He turned back to the blue haired girl – who was supposedly called Mira – as she also stood up and dusted herself down.

The orange haired boy shot her a knowing smirk. "So I'm guessing that it was Kensa who sent you down to get me then, huh?"

Mira's cheeks burned suddenly. "N-No he didn't… I just thought you m-might have been in trouble… so I-I went and looked for you and—"

"Just admit it you were worried! I already know that cold-hearted freak would never have cared enough!"

Tenten raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Shun-san?" She said. He spun around and faced her. "Yes?"

"May I ask; it's been bugging me for a while. Which village do you come from?" Tenten eyed his forehead protector curiously.

A look of suspicion crossed his face for a fraction of a second.

"We're from the Sound village." Shun said finally, but his attention got drawn away from them, as he gazed out deep into a corner of the room, and seemed to be looking at someone. Tenten tried to follow his gaze, but soon found that there was no one there. That was strange… had Shun just been gazing off into the distance at nothing then?

Then suddenly, Tenten felt that someone was behind her. She turned and came face-to-face with another person. It was a boy who had short brown hair and dark, penetrating eyes that sent shivers down her spine.

Something was wrong…

Something just didn't feel right…

The newcomer smirked at her. "I see you've already met my teammates. I am Kensa. It's a pleasure to meet you, _Tenten_."

In his hands, he was holding a mask. A mask Tenten swore she'd seen before. She looked up at him again, then gasped in shock.

This boy… he was… he was…

Her thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly spoke. That voice…

"We'll be taking our leave now. Come along, Shun, Mira." They disappeared.

Tenten fell to her knees, her breathing increasing in speed. The shouts and yells of concern coming from her comrades ceased as she could only think of one thing.

That boy, the one supposedly called Kensa. He was… he was…

.

.

.

.

.

He was the same person who had kidnapped her, the masked man who had imprisoned her inside an underground hideout when her team along with Team Seven went on that mission.

He was back.

* * *

Tenten's brown eyes slowly opened to see many familiar faces huddled around her. She recognised them to be Neji, Lee, Naruto and Sakura. What was going on? Why were they staring at her?

Tenten was about to sit up when a hand shot out and stilled her. She turned and saw it was Sasuke.

"W-What's going on?" Tenten said fearfully, trying to remember what had happened.

Oh. She must have fainted. And those three ninjas… Shun, Mira… and Kensa! Kensa… he looked just like the masked man who had kidnapped her… but she couldn't be certain. The person who had held her captive had been a _man_. She also remembered that he had a speciality with genjutsu. What if… what if he was disguising himself as a boy to get into the exams!

And what about his two so called teammates? What did they have to do with anything? They claimed to be from the Sound village, didn't they?

By the looks of it, they were still in the room with all the other shinobi from different lands. Tenten tried to overlook her friend's worried faces and find them, but she suddenly felt dizzy and had to clutch her head.

"Don't push yourself." Sasuke said, sensing her distress. He frowned, and stared intensely at her. Something was troubling her. But what?

There was no time to debate further, because Lee chose then to make himself known.

"MY DEAR TENTEN, WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO YOU?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!" He yelled, making everyone in the room turn to him.

Oh boy…

"Yes I'm fine Lee. Now would you mind piping down?"

Neji shot him a death glare, as he crouched in front of Tenten. She rubbed her head and began to stand up steadily, then smiled triumphantly.

"See? There's no need to worry, really, it was just nerves, that's all." Tenten lied.

Sasuke could see right through the lie, and narrowed his raven-coloured eyes. From now on, he was going to keep close tabs on her – she was behaving strangely. Just what was it that she was hiding?

Tenten grinned sheepishly to her comrades.

"I believe you Tenten, but you need to hold in there for the good of the team. We'll need everyone on the team in top condition if we hope to survive these exams." Neji stated.

"U-Um, of course."

But no more could be said. Because, the exams were about to begin!

A cloud of smoke suddenly filled the room, and a harsh voice yelled out from within.

"Alright you baby faced generates! Pipe down and listen up!"

The smoke cleared to reveal a man who looked to be a jonin with a scar slashed across his broad, uncaring face. Behind him were a line of officers, many of them jonin and the odd few Anbu. But what got Tenten's attention was a particular Anbu standing behind the scary man. He was looking straight at Sasuke and Tenten. He wore a weasel's mask…

Tenten could feel Sasuke stiffen beside her. She shot him a confused glance, but he didn't seem to notice. He was too preoccupied with glaring hatefully at the Anbu who had a weasel's mask…

"It's time to begin. I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor," He began, with an evil smirk. "and from this moment… your worst enemy."

**A/N: **Heh, I bet you guys were thinking that the joint mission with Team Seven and Team Gai all those chapters ago where Tenten got kidnapped was for nothing! That's right, that masked freak who kidnapped Tenten is in the chunin exams! What did ya think of part I of the chunin exams btw? O.o ^^ And one more thing: **I acknowledge that some of you enjoy the rivalry between Sasuke and Neji**. So… guess what? In the second chapter of my One-shot collection story, _**Tsuki Rising**_, Sasuke and Neji have a 'fight' let's say… and the topic swerves with a… drastic issue… ON HAIR! Read and find out! ^^ :)

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and once again, I bid you a good morning/afternoon/evening/night! :D

…*yawns* now I think I'm going to go to bed…zzzzzz.

Ja ne,

Yuuki


	11. The Forest of Death

**The Forest of Death**

**A/N: **Hehe… how have you all been? Um… *gulps* I'm… I'm guessing everything's fine? ^^ :D

Um, well I have something to say. IT'S NOT MY FAULT! I SWEAR! I haven't updated for so long because of… um, well… I-I mean, GAH! Alright! Fine! If it's the truth you want then here it is! I'vebeenveryverylazyandirrespo nsible! Please don't hit me! ^^ :D Here's chapter 11!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) and my OCs belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Chapter Eleven**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

The first part of the chunin exams was a written test, which was really a test on who had the ability to gather information.

Tenten smirked as she moved her wire wrapped fingers and adjusted the panels on the lights, so that a reflection of test papers on the row behind her could be seen. She glanced at her green clad teammate on the row behind. He caught her gaze and raised an eyebrow. Tenten rolled her eyes and pointed at the light panels. He looked up and saw her sneaky plan.

'Lee, when you can see it clearly, raise your headband.' Tenten thought, as she twiddled her fingers some more to adjust the position, until he raised his forehead protector.

Tenten had already finished her paper, and by the looks of it, Neji had too. She waited as patiently as she could, wondering what else the Chunin exams had in store. But there was a thought that kept coming up in her mind. Was that boy Kensa the man who'd kidnapped her? And who were his strange comrades?

Sasuke looked up from his finished paper and his gaze landed on the dobe. It looked like the Hyuuga girl was helping him. What a loser.

Sasuke checked on his other teammate, and was satisfied to see that she had completed it with flying colours too.

He snuck a glance at the Anbu standing a few rows ahead and stiffened yet again. …. 'Why did _he _have to be an officer here…' Sasuke's grip tightened around his pencil at a tight breaking point, but when he realised what he was doing, he let it clatter back down on the desk and scowled.

The last person his gaze fell upon was Tenten, and as he watched her, just for a moment, all his anger seemed to seethed away. His eyes lingered on her for a second longer, and she looked up and caught his gaze with a wink. Sasuke looked up at the ceiling and saw that she had thin wires connected to some panels on the lights, so the test papers of the row behind her would be reflected at the command of her wire-wrapped fingers, and for her green-glad teammate to see as well.

Sasuke turned away and smirked. 'Sneaky.' He thought.

Ten more anxious minutes passed by, with the sound of pencils scratching against paper and the rapid ticking of the clock.

Tenten sighed a breath of relief when their proctor, Ibiki, slammed his fist against the first desk he set his eyes on, scaring the poor ninja on said desk, and barked out, "Alright! Listen up! Here's the tenth and final question!"

Tenten griped her pencil and slowly braced herself.

XXXXX

Lady Tsunade sat in her office, scowling deeply at the stack of paper work on her desk. When she'd offered up to take the role as Hokage five years ago after Sarutobi Hiruzen, her former teacher, who had died of old age, had requested as a departing request on his death bed for her to be the new Hokage. She just never imagined it would be so _demanding_. If only that pervert Jiraiya hadn't made the excuse of needing to complete his research, maybe she wouldn't be in this mess.

Tsunade missed the old times, traveling the world with her apprentice Shizune and gambling to her heart's desire! But since she'd landed in this office five years ago, schedules had been so tight that neither gambling or even traveling out of this room had been an option for the matter.

"I think I need some more sake." Tsunade grumbled to herself, but stopped short when a certain document caught her eye. She lifted it up and scanned through it swiftly.

"Those damn spies! Working for Orochimaru, I'm sure of it!" The Hokage slammed the paper back down.

It was a report handed in by some of the Anbu she'd asked to do some surveillance checks on the village earlier in the morning. She never liked the arrival of the Chunin exams, mainly because it left the village at a disadvantage. Who knew how many spies were placed here in disguise as genins from the other villages?

It was reported that three strange genins were found lurking around team Gai's training grounds, possibly watching Gai's team train and trying to sus out their abilities before the exams, maybe to get an upper hand? The report didn't mention anything about their identities or appearance, but it was reported that they had a strange aura around them.

Tsunade frowned, and let out a tired sigh. She rested her chin on her right fist. How 'troublesome', as Shikamaru would say.

She was glad that she took Shizune's advise and she sent Itachi as an Anbu operative for the Chunin exams. He was sure to find out the problem and deal with things. She was certain it was Orochimaru behind this. Who else would be sending out ninjas with strange auras about them?

And why?

XXXXX

"This decision is one that could change your life." Ibiki continued seriously, now addressing the half full classroom of soon-to-be-Chunins.

"If for any reason you would rather quit, _now is you last chance_."

No one got up. They all sat on the edge of their chairs, looking determinedly into Ibiki's steely eyes.

'_Remarkable_.' Ibiki thought. 'That kid Naruto's little outburst earlier has given the others some back-bone. "_No way am I never going back on my word! That's the way of the ninja!"_ He's inspired them into staying. Seventy-eight left. More than I expected.' Ibiki smirked and glanced at all the genins.

'I don't see anyone wavering. I think that's it.' Ibiki looked at the line of Chunin officers and some of the Anbu officers there too for reassurance. They all nodded back at him, including the Anbu with a weasle's mask. He nodded back once.

"Well then, I admire you determination, nothing else. For those of you remaining, there's only one thing left to do." He said.

"And that's for me to tell you… that you've all passed the first exam!"

And that was it. Tenten had passed the first phase of the Chunin exams.

XXXXX

Tenten stood in between her teammates. She glanced at the big sign in front of her reading _Restricted Area _and gulped. There were large gates as tall as the Hokage monument cutting them off from the horrors which rested within the Forest of Death.

"This is the location for the second phase of the exam." Spoke a young lady wearing a long hazel cloak and her hair tied up in a spiked ponytail. Tenten then noticed all the other genin around her who she'd be competing against in the Forest of Death. She noticed the man from before with round glasses and grey hair. Her heart stopped when he turned to face her and winked, a sinister smirk taking over her face.

What was that all about? Another enemy to add to her already long list? But so far, she was lucky there'd been no signs of the strange Sound ninjas, Shun, Mira, or Kensa yet…

The lady cut Tenten out of her thoughts and started to explain to them that she'd be their next proctor, and some of the rules for the next test: It was a test on survival where they were to get an Earth scroll and a Heaven scroll to the tower. They had five days.

"…oh and I have one more word of advice," The proctor said after explaining the test, "…JUST DON'T DIE!"

It was now time to enter.

"Gai sensei I will make you proud!" Lee screamed at the top of his lungs, causing Tenten to squirm and Neji to shoot daggers at Lee with his eyes.

"All right, heads up you maggots! The second part of the test has begun!" Shouted their proctor.

The steel gates suddenly creaked open and without a moment's hesitation, Tenten and her team set off.

They were jumping from tree to tree for a very long time, when Neji suddenly stopped in front of them.

"There's a small clearing three miles east," He said, his byakugan fully activated. "We'll split up here to try and find the scrolls, then meet at that clearing in a few hours. It's concealed heavily by trees, so it may be hard to find, but try your best." Neji explained.

"Yeah Neji, but what happens if one of us gets in danger! Who has the scroll?" Tenten asked in concern. She didn't like the idea of splitting up, when there was a chance that she could get kidnapped all over again… and those strange Sound ninja were suspicious. She had a sinking feeling that they were waiting for the right moment to ambush her.

"Seeing as I am the more capable, I have the scroll." Neji answered swiftly. At this, Lee protested and Tenten raised an eyebrow, but Neji didn't seem to notice.

"If one of us doesn't return to the clearing by nightfall, then we'll go and search for them. But chances are we'll have less trouble than the rookie nine." Neji spat coldly. Tenten got the sinking feeling he was referring to Sasuke and his cousin, shy little Hinata.

"I am up for the challenge!" Lee agreed enthusiastically.

Tenten just nodded. If she protested any more, it would be suspicious to her teammates and she didn't want to worry them by saying that she thought three sound ninja were after her.

"OK, OK, it sounds like a good plan."

Neji nodded, and Lee gave her the thumbs up. "Do your best, Tenten!"

And then they were gone, quicker than she could blink.

'This is it, then,' Tenten thought, an increasing determination growing in the pit of her stomach, 'It's my time to show Neji and Lee what I'm made for! I'll find the scrolls! And Sasuke… would he be proud of me, if I did?'

Tenten silenced her thoughts and focused on the task at hand.

She spent ten minutes jumping from branch to branch, trying to sus out any enemy ninja for scrolls, a kunai already in hand, when she realised that Neji had never told them which scroll they were looking for. Was it an Earth scroll, or did he already have it? Or the Heaven scroll?

Tenten growled in frustration, and stopped on the branch.

"Having trouble, huh?" Came a cold sneering voice behind her.

Tenten spun around and griped her kunai tighter, to come face to face with none other than Shun.

How had she not sensed him?

Tenten narrowed her eyes distrustfully. Her views on him were so different to the ones she'd had when they'd first met. His smirk now looked malicious and sinister, and his eyes made her shudder with dread.

"Do you have a scroll, Tenten-san?" He asked innocently, but she knew it was feigned.

"What do you want?" Tenten growled.

"Looks like someone's having a bad day." He snarled mockingly. "Care to tell me what's brought it on?"

"_Shun-san_, _what do you want?" _Tenten repeated dangerously, pulling out another kunai that had an explosive tag.

"You seem to have finally worked out that I'm the enemy. Pretty clueless the first time we met, huh?" Shun leaned against a tree branch carelessly. "I guess all those pretty looks you have aren't just for show. Intelligent as well," He noted, his eyes trailing up and down. "It doesn't have to be so hard if you're prepared to surrender this time." He said nonchalantly with a dismissive wave of his hand

"What do you mean by _this time_?" Tenten said suspiciously, bringing her kunais even closer.

"Kensa had a hard time kidnapping you the last time," Came a new voice.

Emerging from behind the tree that Shun was leaning against came the other Sound ninja, the girl, Mira.

She sneered evilly. "But this time, we'll make sure the job gets done." Her blue eyes flashed with something Tenten could only distinguish as anticipation.

This was getting very bad. She was at a disadvantage against two opponents, and her chakra system was dangerously low from enhancing her feet with it to boost her speed. Glancing around, it looked like evening was drawing near too. If something did happen to her, Neji and Lee were sure to notice her absence and go and look for her, right?

"Looking for and escape route?" Shun questioned, now standing away from the tree and stepping a bit closer. "You're not going anywhere!"

'Put on the tough act and it'll scare them off, ne!' Encourage inner.

Tenten stood her ground. "Then I'll just have to fight you two, won't I!"

"Ha! She actually thinks she has a chance against us, Shun! Don't underestimate us Sound ninjas, girl! Or it'll get you killed…" Mira added coldly.

Tenten didn't want to fight them, really. She decided to ignore Inner's advice and escape while she could. But first a little diversion was needed.

At break-neck speed she threw out the kunai with the explosive tag at the space between her opponents, then jumped back onto a higher tree branch.

BOOM!

As the clearing filled with smoke, Tenten pulled out a scroll and started summoning more explosive kunais, whisking them out and barraging them towards the smoke clouds where her opponents stood. She considered pulling out Twin Rising dragons and just ending them then and there, but dropped the idea when she remembered that she needed to escape while she had the chance.

Tenten dropped down, leaping over the explosion clouds and headed off east, where Neji said the meeting point would be. However, just as she landed on a branch at the other side of the explosion cloud, a chain came out of nowhere, and coiled around her right leg.

Gasping in surprise, Tenten landed face first on the ground.

"Ah, ah, ah! Where do you think _you're_ going?" Came the unmistakable voice that confirmed all her nightmares. Except for some reason, it sounded creepier?

Tenten didn't need to turn around to know that it belong to Kensa, her kidnapper.

The chain around her right leg tightened and she gritted her teeth together to keep the scream in that she was dying to let out. But she was a kunoichi now, and kunoichi's didn't scream over a little pain!

"Putting on that tough girl façade won't work!" Tenten twisted her head around to see that it was Mira who'd said that. She and Shun had just emerged from the explosion cloud, looking very battered and scorched.

"We can tell that it's hurting you!"

Kensa glanced at Shun and Mira with his penetrating brown eyes, and immediately, they both bowed to him.

"My Lord!" They both squeaked in union.

Tenten ignored them, although something about it all was scarily suspicious. Why were they calling him 'Lord'?

"What do you want with me!"

"Now, now, settle down," Kensa said silkily, like a snake's slippery hiss. "You will be of great value to me, my dear."

Tenten felt like throwing up. "My teammates will notice that something has happened to me, and they'll come after you just like they did the last time you kidnapped me! Neji is smart enough to –

"Ooooh we're so scared!" Shun and Mira cut her off.

Tenten wasn't having it. She started thrashing around – as a distraction – then when Kensa was too busy tightening the chain around her leg, and Shun and Mira were too busy sneering at her attempts, she whisked out a kunai aimed at Kensa's face.

Tenten's eyes widened in shock when he caught it without even looking.

"Nice try, I'll give you that and nothing more. Would you like to do it the easy way, or do you want me to incapacitate you now? I'd much prefer to do all my experiments in the lab rather than this forest…."

Tenten couldn't even hear what he was saying anymore. She was too busy trying not to faint. The chain had tightened around her leg so much that she could barely feel it. And Shun and Mira sneering over wasn't helping either.

Her surroundings were getting oddly disorientated and she was having trouble keeping her eyes open.

Then the weirdest thing happened.

Through her burly vision, she saw the silhouette of someone jump down in front of her. The person was wearing a weasel's mask, and looked strangely familiar.

Without the slightest explanation, he lifted up his mask – revealing a face that she couldn't quite see – and suddenly, Mira and Shun collapsed onto the ground out of nowhere. Tensa seemed unaffected, but his eyes widened in shock. Then they both started speaking.

Tenten's senses were beginning to get very hazy, and there was a buzzing in her head. She was going to pass out at any moment…

But before she did, she head the smallest clip of what they were saying;

.

.

.

.

.

"… Uchiha Itachi."

"… Orochimaru."

**A/N**: Everything kicks off from here, as you can see! You're probably wondering – oh, I don't know, maybe – WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED! ! ^^ :D Blimey! Then stay tuned for the next chapter, my dear readers! Hope you enjoyed it and Sayonara! ^^ :D

Ja ne,

Yuuki


	12. An Unravelling Truth

**An Unravelling Truth**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) and my OCs belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Chapter Twelve**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

_Who be there…_

_My challenge, perhaps…_

_The truth may not seem fair…_

_But the chains are unravelling fast…_

"Thank you, Orochimaru-san. Because I have just listened to you spill your whole plan to this Leaf kunoichi here and I am now in the position to let the Hokage know about it, and eliminate you."

That had been the first thing that Tenten remembered Itachi saying. She was still lying on the ground, unable to move the leg that Tensa – now Orochimaru in disguise – had wrapped his chain around.

And she was still conscious, albeit barely. Her eyes were shut.

_All… hope is not… lost! I have to… hold on! Itachi has come to save me! I… I wonder if Sasuke is OK… if he's still safe with his team…_

Tenten forced her eyes open. Itachi and Orochimaru were fighting, except Itachi's opponent wasn't a boy with brown hair and black eyes, but a man with long dark hair, and eyes like a snake's.

She looked down and saw Mira and Shun still knocked out, utterly unconscious. Itachi must have done something to them with his Sharingan.

She groaned in pain, as her leg tingled sharply. Had Orochimaru's chain tightened any further, all the circulation of blood in her leg would've been cut off.

_I need to… to get the rest of the chain off fast!_

Tenten got into a sitting position, trying not to glance at the heated battle in front of her, and failing. Orochimaru was lashing out at Itachi mercilessly, but Itachi was responding to his attacks without falter.

The weapon's kunoichi tried not to flinch when a stray kunai landed inches from her hand. She was making good progress with loosening the chain. It was nearly off…

"… Tenten, get out of here. Get back to your team – now." Came Itachi's voice.

She looked up, to see that he was now standing in front of Orochimaru, who was as still as a statue. Itachi's unblinking blood-red eyes were fixated on Orochimaru's, yet he had somehow been able tell that Tenten hadn't left yet, because he said, "… you'll be safer with them. They're three miles east from here. Go there,"

Tenten nodded meekly, forcing herself onto wobbly feet. "T…Thank you!"

She yanked off the last of the chain on her leg, and took a step away. But she couldn't help herself, as she added quietly:

"Please… be careful,"

Itachi nodded, and for slit second, Tenten thought she'd seen him grin.

XXX

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto had already been confronted by several ninja, all wanting their scrolls – and one of them had just wanted their food.

They had of course beaten them all, but it was still early into the exam, and they were already low on chakra.

"… that sounded like an explosion," Sakura whispered suddenly, "I don't like the sound of that."

Naruto just shrugged and placed his arms behind his head, but Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"Tch. That wasn't an explosion; it was a summoning. Someone's just summoned something big."

Seconds later they had been ambushed. A Sound ninja had appeared out of nowhere and trapped Naruto and Sakura with ropes. Sasuke was too fast for him and dodged the ropes easily.

"Idiots," Sasuke muttered under his breath in annoyance, as he carelessly swung a kunai that sliced across the ropes currently holding his team down.

"You're mine now. Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!"

The fireball shot out and engulfed the Sound shinobi, as Sasuke jumped back a few metres. He was sure he'd gotten him, when—

"—sorry, this is one test you've failed. Now hand me the scrolls or you die!"

Naruto was already working on summoning his Shadow Clones. One snuck up behind the Sound ninja from behind and delivered a blow to his spine. Before he could react, another clone flipped over his head and kicked him square in the ribs.

Sasuke smirked. "Good work,"

It was then that he sensed something strange, and suddenly, Tenten's face appeared in his mind. She was in trouble. He just knew it.

_Damn…_

Sasuke rounded on Sakura like a bullet. "…there's somewhere I have to go – and I'm taking the scrolls with me. Support Naruto, I'll come and find you once I've checked something out."

"But Sasuke! Where are yo—

He was already gone.

Trees wilted past him in a rapid furry of speed as he searched for a familiar bun-haired kunoichi's face. Sasuke activated Sharingan and glared ahead of him. He could vaguely see the chakra signatures of two shinobi, one mile west.

_…It has to be Tenten!_

When Sasuke got there, panting and sweating in blinding desperacy, the first thing he noticed was how the trees where all covered in scorch marks. Adding to that, there were multiple kunais lying around the ground – apart of which also occupied two unconscious ninjas.

He narrowed his eyes as he recognised them to be that Sound ninja from the exam room, where they'd the written test. Something about them had frightened Tenten beforehand. They now currently looked like they'd been out cold for some time.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

There was something else bothering him. The scorch marks on the trees…. no, it just couldn't…

… or could it?

_Only one person could have done that… that Fire jutsu. _The last person he wanted to see.

Itachi. He had to be the one responsible for those scorch. Only Uchiha's could perform Fire jutsus of that power. But why had he been here? Where was Tenten now? Who had they been fighting?

Sasuke gritted his teeth together. _I've got to find her…_

XXX

Many questions rapidly hit Tenten as she moved from to tree to tree with great difficulty, to where Lee and Neji supposedly were.

Orochimaru.

_What would someone like Orochimaru want with ME in the first place? _Tenten contemplated, as she continued moving east. She frowned.

_Why did he come in disguise, and why did he kidnap me on that mission with Team 7?_

Tenten shuddered, as she remembered him saying something about experimenting on her. Maybe it was just a joke.

He had used the name 'Kensa' as a cover-name, and was probably breaking some laws by coming to the Chunin exams himself, accompanied with illegal Sound ninja. They were all already above chunin level!

_I better get back to my team and fast… we'll have to alert the proctor, Anko! I just hope Itachi's OK!_

Tenten stopped and narrowed her eyes, upon entering a deserted clearing. She could've swarm she'd seen a flash of movement…

"Sasuke?" Tenten gasped, unable to contain her surprise. Standing in front of her – supposedly out of thin air—was indeed, the Uchiha prodigy.

He looked completely unharmed, to Tenten's utter relief. He was about to respond, when suddenly, she felt her legs buckling underneath her.

"Tenten, your chakra is weakening," Sasuke stated quietly, frowning darkly, as he supported her and placed an arm around her back.

"It's him… Orochimaru. He's—He's here! You've got to alert Anko! She needs to tell the Hokage!"

Tenten realised, to her horror, that _she_ was his targeted. Orochimaru was the one who had probably plotted her kidnap during that joint mission months ago, and now he was trying to get her again.

"Tenten… don't worry. I promise, I'll protect you." Sasuke said firmly, and suddenly, he placed his arms around her and looked straight into her eyes. "You're safe with me, calm down."

As Tenten looked into Sasuke's determined onyx eyes, she felt herself relaxing slightly. She managed a weak smile.

"Thank you, Sasuke. Itachi… he, well, he saved me from Orochimaru, and told me to escape."

Without warning, Sasuke turned away. His back was on Tenten completely, as he appeared to be seething with furry.

Tenten furred her eyebrows. Huh? What? Why was he angry?

'Looks like he didn't want Itachi to protect you, doesn't it, ne?' Inner commented out-of-the-blue, as if it were a sunny day and they were at the park—not in the middle of a life-threatening exam, and being tracked down by mass criminals…

"The person I want to protect the most. Itachi… he has to just come along and ruin it all… I hate him, Tenten."

'Oooooooo, brotherly drama!' Inner chirped up again. This was just ridiculous.

Tenten scowled and shut off Inner's unneeded blabbering.

"Sasuke, what do you mean you hate him? He saved me! Plus, he's your brother…. please, forgive him of whatever it is he's done to upset you."

"No, you don't understand," Sasuke said coldly.

The next thing that happened was completely unexpected.

"I'm getting you out of here." Sasuke suddenly said, his voice determined as he looked straight into Tenten's eyes.

Just as Tenten was about to respond, he came closer to her again, and they were at arms-length now. She could feel her heart thumping rapidly in her chest.

Then, in a slit second, Sasuke closed the distance between them and his lips met hers. Tenten stilled, as she felt his warm lips pressed fiercely against her own. He wrapped an arm around her waist firmly, possessively, and pulled her closer to him. Tenten didn't protest, she couldn't find the fight in her. With a soft sigh, she gave in and allowed his searching mouth to deepen the kiss, filling her stomach with butterflies.

Inner had no words to say for any of this, surprisingly.

XXX

Tsunade sat at her office, sipping from her cup with a confused expression. For some reason, she felt uneasy. Only an hour ago, her cup had cracked out of nowhere and she'd had to replace it. For something like that to happen, meant a bad omen.

Just as Tsunade was about to turn back to her paperwork, the door to her office unexpectedly slammed open. It was Shizune.

"This is terrible, Tsunade-sama! Absolutely horrific! Oh dear no!"

Tsunade promptly stood up from her desk and bellowed, "Spit it out, Shizune! What's wrong?"

"It's Orochimaru! He was sighted in the Forest of Death – that's where the Chunin exams is currently taking place!"

"WHAT?!" Tsunade yelled, her eyes bulging from her face. "Give me every detail from the start!"

Shizune straightened up and cleared her throat. "Well only a few hours ago the security cameras placed around the forest caught footage of Uchiha Itachi fighting against Orochimaru! And that poor kunoichi, oh, what's her name? Tenten! Yes, Tenten had been lying on the ground with a chain around her leg. It seems he must have used a genjutsu to sneak into the exam, and brought along three of his followers too!"

Tsunade furrowed her eyebrows as she thought over this new information. "I've known all along that something like this might happen…"

The Hokage suddenly broke off. "Tenten, you say, was attacked by that snake?"

"Y-Yes!" Shizune stammered, looking paler by the minute.

Tsunade closed her eyes.

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"…I may know why,"


	13. Unexpected Companions

**Unexpected Companions **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) and my OCs belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

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"You think you might know why Orochimaru is so bent on capturing Tenten?" Shizune asked the fifth Hokage, her mouth handing wide open.

Tsunade nodded. "Yes, I have my theories." She closed her eyes and continued.

"I believe that Orochimaru is aware of Tenten's closeness with Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke, and wishes to use that to his advantage by capturing her. She could be used as his pawn, just to draw in the two Uchiha brothers, and then use them for his sick purposes. We all know that Orochimaru has had some interest in the Sharingan for some time."

Shizune gulped, and promptly nodded. "Right. Is… that all?" she asked tentatively.

"I'm afraid not," Tsunade sighed. "He'll probably want to further his experimentations with the curse mark as well while he's here. He might be trying to brand her with it, just like he did with Anko. His targets are generally orphans."

"Oh, yes… Tenten is an orphan." Shizune quietly remembered.

A terse silence filled the office again. Then, Tsunade stood and spoke. "We're cancelling the Chunin exams. It's just too dangerous."

"W-Wait—what?" Shizune spluttered. "But you can't!"

Tsunade swerved back around and her face became firm and unrelenting. Her forehead creased with long, broad lines.

"Oh, yes, I can."

XXX

Tenten and Sasuke pulled away. Tenten's face was filled with confusion and embarrassment, when, out of nowhere, Lee dropped down in front of them. They had no time, not even a second longer to dwell on what they had just done.

"AH-HA!" Lee announced dramatically. "FOUND YOU, TENTEN!"

Tenten could feel the heat rising to her face as she took a step further away from Sasuke—as subtly as possible.

"Oh, Lee. It's you…" She tried not to sound too disappointed at her teammate's arrival. "I thought you and Neji were supposed to be looking for those scrolls we needed?"

Lee flung his finger in the air and paused for dramatic effect. Sasuke just closed his eyes at the ludicrous action. "…that is correct, Tenten! But when we returned to the arranged clearing and found that you were nowhere to be seen, me and Neji got worried, so we went out to look for you!" Lee explained.

Tenten sweat dropped and was about to blurt out any old excuse for this 'disappearance' on her part, when Sasuke cut her off.

"That Hyuuga, huh? Tch."

"Me, you mean, Uchiha?" Came the stoic and irritated-sounding voice of Neji, as he approached them both from behind a cluster of trees.

"Well?" Neji said, looking to and throw both Sasuke and Tenten. "Explain yourselves!"

Tenten's heart stared to race all over again, as she pleaded at Neji with her eyes.

Then, her heart stopped completely.

"You didn't see, did you…?"

"See what?" Neji snapped abruptly, now glaring intently at a certain Uchiha with a scowl set across his face.

Tenten blushed. "I-I mean—

Sasuke came to her rescue. "…Hyuuga. Before you get ahead of yourself, I thought you might like to know that your own teammate nearly got captured by mass criminals only hours ago." Sasuke stated coolly, a cold smirk falling across his face.

Neji rounded on Tenten with concern, but Sasuke beat him to it before he could ask.

"… she's fine now, Hyuuga. No thanks to you, on your part that is…"

Neji looked like he was about to explode, so Tenten sighed, glad that his anger couldn't be sky-rocketed any further, by, for instance, finding out that her and Sasuke had… well, you know…

'OMG OMG OMG YOU AND SASUKE UCHIHA ACTUALLY—' Tenten quickly cut off Inner's line of thoughts – she was clearly _still_ in shock – since it looked, by the way that Neji was now glaring at Tenten, that he was trying to read her mind and find out for himself. She just wanted to be careful that he couldn't, however ludicrous it was.

"Look you two, please, be more like… like Lee," Tenten supplied uncertainly, sighing as she turned to her green-clad teammate who was currently feeding a group of curious squirrels. Tenten sweat-dropped.

"Lee?" Sasuke repeated, a baffled yet amused expression on his face. "You want us to be more like him?"

"This is pathetic." Neji announced, also seeing what his Gai-sensei-look-alike-teammate was up to.

Before any of them could say another word, the clearing that they were standing in suddenly filled with an unearthly silence. Then, out of nowhere, a head of blonde-hair, accompanied by an orange body jumped down in front of them.

Naruto? But why was he here…

The blonde knucklehead struck out a thumb and unexpectedly twenty more look-alike's of him dropped down beside him. Shadow clones.

"ARE YOU OK, SASUKE-TEME?!" All the Shadow Clones yelled at once. Tenten cringed.

"Why wouldn't I be, dobe?" Sasuke responded impatiently, if not rudely.

The nearest one – which Tenten supposed had to be the real one – spoke up. She was glad that this time, only one Naruto was speaking and not all of them at once.

"Sakura told me that you went away, and that you're probably in deep trouble. She commanded me to send out my Shadow Clones to find you at once," Naruto explained sheepishly, scratching his head as all the Shadow Clones now started disappearing in a poof, one by one.

"She over-reacted," Sasuke stated irritably. "…I told her I'd be back."

"Well he's been found now, there." Tenten settled, emphasising the word "there". Sasuke had looked like he'd wanted to say something else of the offensive-type, but at Tenten's look, he just closed his eyes and turned away, annoyed.

"NARUTO, MY ETERNAL RIVAL—" Lee began joyously upon seeing Naruto, but Neji cut him off.

"We're not on your team, Uchiha. You and your… your teammate, had better clear off. I should think I had the right mind to challenge you for one of your Earth scrolls. This is an examination and we're no longer required to think of each other as Leaf village comrades,"

Sasuke's answer was sharp. "I don't think I feel comfortable leaving Tenten alone with you anymore, Hyuuga." he said coldly, his eyes dark and resolute. "The next thing I know, she'll get kidnapped again. Clearly you're not a _capable_ teammate for her… you can't even protect her."

Neji not only looked infuriated, but he also looked offended. "... Saying something like that to me is equivalent to insulting the whole Hyuuga clan!"

As Neji and Sasuke fought a verbal battle, Tenten realised that maybe Sasuke was saying all this because he really _did_ care about her, and he wasn't just egging Neji on for the fun of it. Maybe he really did mean those words…

"Why yo— " Neji began after a particularly nasty insult, but this time, Lee was the one to cut him off.

The green-clad ninja started to proclaim something dramatically. At first, no one paid any attention to Lee's excited yells, all too used to it being pointless and absurd. But then, what he was saying started to register…

"MY MOST BEAUTIFUL CHERRY BLOSSOM! SAKURA!"

Indeed, emerging from the cluster of trees encircling the clearing was Sakura. She swept her wide-eyed gaze over them all, and spoke up awkwardly.

"Er, so you're all here…?"

Naruto nodded. "Pretty much. You didn't happen to find another scroll for our team, did you, Sasuke?" The blonde jinjuriki asked, turning to the aggravated Uchiha who didn't bother to respond.

"Look who it is," Came another new voice, accompanied by the sound of loud munching, a pair of feet trudging lazily along, and stray strands of dirty-blonde hair.

"Well, if it isn't Ino Yamanaka," Sakura laughed, "I had a feeling you were following me here. Trying to see Sasuke, huh?"

Ino scoffed, as her two male teammates, Shikamaru Nara – the lazy genius – and Choji Akimichi – the kind-hearted fatso – stepped beside her.

"TOO MANY OF YOU ARE HERE!" Neji suddenly bellowed. "WE ARE ALL ENEMIES RIGHT NOW, WHAT PART OF THAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND? THIS IS AN EXAMINATION!"

It looked like the Hyuuga prodigy was finally cracking up. The sun was starting to go down and there wasn't much light, but Tenten could still see the giant vein pulsing at his temple.

"Calm down, Neji. Maybe it was 'fated' that we all found each other here…."

"TENTEN IS RIGHT! LET THE POWER OF YOUTH REIGN!" Lee cried happily.

Tenten nodded, "Please listen, all of you." she said, and all the muttering and arguing went still. "Even though we're enemies in this exam, I think that we should all stick together. I was… attacked by dangerous ninjas only hours ago,"

Tenten left out the part where she told them that one of the dangerous ninjas was Orochimaru, along with some of his followers; or that she had suspicions that the Chunin exams would be cancelled. She just hoped that Itachi would come back and tell her what was going on… she didn't even know if he was still alive… or if Orochimaru had already gotten away.

No one seemed convinced by her speech though. Tenten sighed.

"No way!"

"You've got to be kidding!"

"Seriously?"

"Yes," Tenten said, nodding at all her flabbergasted classmates.

Everyone went quiet as they tried absorbed this information and come to terms with working _together_. "B-But… " Ino stammered unsurely, only to be reprimanded by Sasuke.

"Tenten's right. We should stick together for now, and in the morning we'll find Anko, the proctor, and explain the situation to her. It's all we've got now…"

XXX

When nightfall broke out, the nine Genin ninja set up camp and settled for the night—together.

There was a lot of commotion about having to work together at first, and having to spend the night next to each other—Neji had been more than happy to spit out his spite at this, mainly at Sasuke, and throw in some rules too.

But thankfully, they all reached an agreement – albeit at a few hours past midnight.

Tenten was just settling down against a nice tree trunk, when she had an unexpected visitor.

"I'm staying with you," Came Sasuke's voice shortly. "…I had to wait until that hag of a Hyuuga, Neji, finally went to sleep and put off his constant Byakugan watch on you. I would've come earlier but I'm not in the mood to deal with him right now."

"Excuse me?" Tenten responded indignantly after a few seconds. "I can look after myself... and besides, we're all here together anyway. It would be hard to kidnap me with all of you here."

Tenten tried not to blush at the sudden contact of Sasuke's arm beside her. The kiss earlier had been too much of a surprise for her.

"Why did you… do it?" Tenten mumbled quietly. She looked up into his eyes; he was staring at the moon intently – no, scratch that – he was glaring up at it. He looked mysterious and almost untouchable.

"Tenten,"

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I don't know. You're different… but how do you do it? You can make me feel calm when I'm angry, angry when I'm calm… remind me of hope when I'm about to destroy myself. You're the balance keeping my heart alive."

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"...And I will protect you."

XXX

Tenten was silent, comprehending Sasuke's words. "Thank you," she said finally. "Thank you, Sasuke…."

Before she could say any more, Ino and Sakura's voices rose over the cackling campfire.

"...PIG! That was my head you just kicked!"

"Oh, sorry Sakura, it's just that your forehead was so big, I COULDN'T HELP IT!" Ino replied loudly. Shikamaru stirred in his sleep, cracked an eye open and muttered "troublesome," then went back to sleep. Naruto merely snored louder in his sleep.

"INO, I SWEAR ONE DAY I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT IT TRULY MEANS TO FEEL PAIN!"

"P-Please, Ino, Sakura—you might w-wake someone up!" Squeaked the quiet and timid voice of Hinata Hyuuga.

_Hinata_?

When did she and her team get here? Hmm, strange...

Tenten ignored what was going on below her and turned back to Sasuke.

"What were we saying before...?" Tenten started, but before she could continue, she was interrupted AGAIN.

"You and Sasuke are…" Sakura said unexpectedly, her head twisted back in order to look up at them both. They remained still, as if they had been caught red-handed.

"You and Sasuke are…" Ino began as well, two seconds after Sakura.

"Tenten and Sasuke are what?" Neji snapped finally, his eyes wide and full of envious anger. It was apparent that everyone was awake by now.

"AN OFFICIAL COUPLE!"

What? What were they talking about?

_Sasuke and me... a couple? Sasuke and me a couple..._

The thought started to sound not too bad as it now entered Tenten's mind and rebounded. So much so, that Inner perked up...

'Didn't I tell you, ne? I've been trying to make you aware of this from the very start! But did you listen? NO!'

It was a shock, being scolded by Inner, instead of getting harassed with her unwanted comments. It was an unusual change...

"Now that you two _are_ officially a couple," Ino went on, a knowing smile spread across her face, "then ya better make sure that you take good care of Sasuke-kun for me." the Yamanaka-kunoichi finished.

"Hell yeah!" Sakura added spontaneously.

Neji was seething although surprisingly he said nothing on the topic and merely turned away. Tenten looked down.

"Look everyone, we need our sleep. Just... go back to bed." Tenten finally announced without bothering to repeat herself or look at anyone. Geez, was it too much to ask? All she wanted to do was speak privately with Sasuke, but nooooooooooooo. All these freakin' complications!

Tenten looked up at Sasuke again; now she was sure that everyone had grudgingly gone back to sleep. The campsite was silent and still.

She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She was really tired, much more tired than she had originally thought.

So instead of talking, Tenten had let out yawned right in Sasuke's face.

"Oh, sorry!" Tenten hastily apologized. But Sasuke remained indifferent. He just blinked.

"Like you said, go to sleep. Your tired." Was all that Sasuke did say, and all that Tenten could remember him saying, quite frankly, as the darkness of slumber pulled her away...

XXX

Tenten had dreamed about her wedding day. She wore a beautiful white wedding dress and beside her was Neji, his arm linked in hers as he took her down the isle to her future husband.

Tenten looked left and right and blinked. But they were in the training grounds? Why was she getting married _here_?

As Tenten walked down the never-ending isle to the husband whom she couldn't quite see yet, Neji softly nudged her arm and pointed to one of the pews – they had magically appeared for this special occasion – except no one was sitting the row that Neji had pointed to. Then Tenten realised that this row was supposed to be reserved for the bride's family. _Her_ family.

But Tenten saw no mother or father watching her tearfully yet proudly at that pew. Not even a sign of their ghosts. It was just vacant.

As she walked on ever forwards, Tenten slowly inched closer to the front, now curious to see which man her dream had chosen for to wed. She was almost there...

Tenten immediately gasped in horror. She knew that long, straight, raven-black hair...

"...Tenten," Came the voice of the man, the groom, her future husband, who was now face to face with her.

"Itachi!" Tenten stammered, eyes wide, as she took in his warm, relaxed grin. "So good you made it." he said, leaning forward and—

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Bellowed the voice of none other than Sasuke Uchiha, as he appeared out of nowhere and came bounding down the isle to them, his face fierce and full of determination.

"I will kill you!" Sasuke spat lowly, glaring straight at Itachi, Sharingan activated, as his right arm igniting with the Chidori lightening.

Tenten stepped in front of Itachi, her arms spread wide. "Please, Sasuke! He is your brother, and my... my nearly-husband!" She dropped her arms and lowered her gaze, too upset to watch Sasuke tear – or try to tear – Itachi down.

XXX

When Tenten woke up, she realised that it was not because it was morning; the moon was still shining high above their heads, and it was silent. Everyone below was still asleep.

_It must have been the dream, _Tenten thought, yawning. Sasuke was lying along the branch above her. She watched him for a moment, sleeping. Sasuke looked... different, when he was asleep. His skin looked paler, more welcoming, soft, unearthly. His dark hair contrasted with his skin most attractively.

Tenten turned away and listened to the sounds of the night. By the looks of it, sleep wasn't prepared to take her back in just yet.

"Tenten,"

The bun-haired kunoichi looked up, expecting to see Sasuke staring down at her.

Except, it wasn't him.

Tenten was frozen to the spot. On the branch level to hers, squatted at the very edge, was Itachi.

"I-Itachi?" The man in her dream, her supposed future 'husband'?

Tenten was too confused to think straight, and could merely gape at him.

"What're you doing here?"

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	14. Master of Deceit

**Master of Deceit**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) and my OCs belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Steal my work and I will take legal action against you. Not cool. ©

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

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Itachi stared straight into Tenten's eyes from the other end of the branch. Tenten gaped at him in confusion, shock and surprise. Her back sank deeper into the tree as she tried to hold his steely gaze.

Itachi then spoke up, saying something completely unexpected. "So you're the one Itachi wishes for me to protect... you're Tenten."

The bun-haired kunoichi didn't know what to do. _What does he mean? _She thought, narrowing her eyes at him. At that moment a cold breeze passed over the campsite. Tenten glanced down from the tree and saw all her comrades, sleeping soundly below. They had no idea that Itachi—or whoever this ninja was in front of her—had joined them. And by the looks of it, Sasuke was unaware too.

Tenten turned back to the Itachi-replica. He had moved closer down the branch to her now. Only a few metres were separating them.

"Yes... that's me, why?" Tenten said carefully.

"I'm a clone," said the Itachi look-alike shortly. "And I'm taking you with me. Come,"

Just as clone-Itachi moved towards Tenten, another figure dropped down between them and had come so close to the clone's outstretched arm that if clone-Itachi hadn't pulled away in time, it's arm would've been painfully broken. Sasuke had dropped down from his branch above them, right in front of Tenten, boldly blocking clone-Itachi's path to her.

Tenten looked up at Sasuke's head, and scooted back against the tree even more. She didn't need to look at his face to know how angry he was. The powerful chakra that she could feel pouring out of his body emanated a cold and hateful decent.

Images of Tenten's dream suddenly filled her mind. Sasuke's vengeful face as he charged down the isle at an accelerating speed... his arm engulfed in lightening brandished directly at Itachi's heart...

"..._What_ are you doing here?" Sasuke said finally. The icy bitterness in his voice had almost made Tenten shudder. It was colder than the night breeze...

Tenten had never understood why Sasuke and Itachi couldn't get along. It had something to do with their clan... their personalities... their wants. They all just seemed to clash somehow...

The clone straightened up and pared Sasuke's glare with a steely face devoid of expression.

"You overheard me, I assume? Don't play dumb with me, Sasuke." Itachi's clone said darkly. "All I want to do is protect her. Leader—the real Itachi—wishes for me to accomplish this. I must take her with me. Get out of the way, Sasuke."

"How do I know that you aren't just some imposter? The twenty-seven other ninja here in this examination are after our scrolls... and there's Orochimaru after Tenten as well. If Itachi had really wanted to take Tenten to safety, why couldn't he come here himself?" said Sasuke dangerously.

"The real Itachi has gone to report to the Hokage. Orochimaru has been dealt with, if that should reassure you. However there is still one of his followers left." said the clone shortly, now a hint of impatience etched into its voice.

"Sasuke..." Tenten began. "all his clone wants to do is take me to safety. I don't mind, I trust hi—"

Before Tenten could let the final word out, she was interrupted.

Without warning Sasuke lashed his leg out in an arc and kicked Itachi's clone off the tree branch.

As Tenten let her mouth hang wide open, she expected the clone to immediately _poof_ into smoke at the forceful impact from Sasuke's kick but instead it stayed solid as it fell over the branch and down to the ground.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he jumped from the branch too after Itachi's clone.

Carefully, Tenten dashed to the end of the branch to the spot where Sasuke had jumped from and looked down. She looked just in time to catch Itachi's clone quickly say something to Sasuke before it vanished in a _poof_ from a stab of Sasuke's shuriken.

The huddled, sleepy figures of the other ten ninja's camping with them seemed to be awakening. It was already early dawn.

"I'm hungry!" Kiba barked out first. "Who ate mine and Akamaru's dog snacks? ...NARUTO!"

"What? It wasn't me!"

"Shut up, baka! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Sorry, sorry Sakura-chan!"

"Forehead shut uuuup already! AND GET YOUR LEG OUTTA MY HAIR!"

"Pig! I bet it hasn't even been washed in months! Hell yeah!"

It was only a few minutes later that the genin ninjas finally calmed down and packed their sleeping gear away that they noticed something odd. Tenten had dropped down from her branch to join them too.

"Say, was there a fight near here?" Sakura asked curiously, her eyebrows knitted together.

"Yeah... it does feel like some chakra was released." Shikamaru murmured. Everyone fell silent for a moment before Naruto finally turned to Sasuke. The Uchiha turned his back to them and Tenten did the same.

"...Itachi sent one of his clones down here and I got rid of it. It wasn't really a fight." Sasuke stated impassively.

"WHAT?!" Naruto spluttered indignantly and everyone turned their heads to the blonde knucklehead. Hinata blushed.

"Man Sasuke, why didn't you leave the clone for us? What if Itachi had a message to give to us about those manic ninjas we're up against?" Naruto complained.

Sasuke remained indifferent. "Shut up dobe, I was aware of that. Itachi sent his clone down here to take away Tenten. Before I defeated it, it was clever enough to realise that I wasn't going to let it go or take Tenten away, so it told me to find Anko and get Tenten to her instead. That's where I think Itachi had been planning for his clone to take her."

"Oh," Naruto said.

"Not another journey..." Choji complained, but snapped his mouth shut when Ino whacked him strictly. "Whatever you say, Sasuke-kun." Ino quickly corrected.

Tenten smiled at her comrades gratefully. It was comforting to know that they were like a family to her. She could get through this.

"Since it appears to be that Sasuke is the leader of us all, I thought you might like to know, Sasuke, that my bugs have sensed Anko... and if it happens that it _is_ Anko who you wish for us to go to—as Itachi's clone had revealed its purpose was to bring Tenten—"

"Bug boy, make a long story short for us, jeez!" Kiba said harshly. He then turned to Sasuke who had remained patient—ignoring a silently fuming Shino—and spoke.

"What bug boy means to say is he's offering you his help to find Anko, the proctor. His bugs'll lead us to her... but of course my nose can sniff out Anko for you equally as quickly—if not more efficiently," Kiba said, smirking arrogantly which furthered Shino's silent anger.

XXX

The foliage of the forest and the poor dawn sunshine camouflaged the twelve genin ninja as they moved, in search of Anko. Naturally Sasuke along with Shino and Kiba stayed at the front. Tenten, however, stayed behind with her team, Neji and Lee while the rest of the Rookie nine trailed ahead of them.

Neji hadn't said a word to her, unlike Lee who was as ever joyous and cheerful. The stubborn Hyuuga had held an unrelenting silence as they moved. Tenten sighed. Nor had Sasuke spoken to her after the encounter with Itachi's clone...

What would happen when they got to Anko? Would she no longer continue the chunin exams?

Suddenly, Neji's voice penetrated her thoughts and Tenten was so surprised to hear it that she stared back at him in shock.

"... Don't you think that it's strange how we haven't run into any other opponents wanting our scrolls yet? The Rookie nine must now have three heaven or earth scrolls between them and I have a heaven scroll for our team."

"Yes, you're right." Tenten nodded, glad that he was speaking to her but at the same time irked by his words. She kept thinking that she could see shadows in the trees around them, jumping just out of sight before she could be sure of what she'd seen.

'Even that tree on your right over there looks ominous, ne?'

Inner was right. Tenten could've sworn a figure right at that spot had passed behind a tree.

Subtly, the bun-haired kunoichi slowed her speed and slackened back, just enough to perform the right hand seals so that Neji wouldn't see.

"Shadow Clone no jutsu!" Tenten whispered and at that moment a clone of herself stood beside her. The clone nodded once, then went forward and took her place beside Neji and Lee.

_Good, no one noticed... _The real Tenten thought in relief and waited until the outlines of Lee and Neji along with the clone had disappeared into the distance.

She wanted to check out this forest. Someone was here and she just knew it. Once she'd checked things out, she'd return to her comrades. She didn't want anyone to be with her here in case it was dangerous—they'd already done enough for her.

No one would know that she wasn't with them and a shadow clone was instead, unless...

...unless Sasuke activated his Sharingan.

Tenten jumped. A twig had snapped directly behind her.

Without waiting Tenten grabbed a kunai and swerved round.

"...Who's there?"

XXX

Shizune stood tiredly in the Hokage office, watching as countless Anbu members would appear out of thin air in front of the Hokage who would in turn bark out orders for them to commit to.

"Leave! Now!" Tsunade yelled and the line of twenty or so Anbu in front of them had disappeared.

Shizune sighed. She had stayed awake all night with the Hokage, devising plans on how they'd get Orochimaru and his followers out of the Forest of Death as soon as possible.

"If we can get rid of the snake fast, then there may be a chance that the Chunin exams won't have to be cancelled." Tsunade said after a moment of silence. "I want all the competitors safe from him. He's a threat to the village."

Shizune perked up. "Really? All we have to do is get him out, fast?"

The Hokage nodded. "That's right."

Just then, the office door opened and another Anbu member entered.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "You're late," she stated.

The Anbu said nothing until he was standing directly in front of the office desk. Then he lifted up his mask and said, "I know."

Shizune gasped. "Uchiha Itachi! What're you doing here?"

Itachi glanced at Shizune shortly. "I have much to say."

"Go on then, Uchiha, I haven't got all morning." The Hokage prompted. She placed her hands underneath her chin and watched Itachi intently.

"I have defeated Orochimaru. He was after Tenten who I now hope is in the safety of Anko, the proctor. The snake is finally gone for good. I used my Tsukiyomi—the most powerful of my genjutsu—which cost Orochimaru all his memory. He doesn't even know who he is, or what he was capable of before then. I Teleported him out of the Forest of Death, and now he is currently being held in one of the prison units."

A silence filled the office in which the Hokage and Shizune absorbed this new information.

"Orochimaru is really gone for good?" Shizune asked incredulously and Itachi nodded impassively.

"Shizune!" Tsunade barked suddenly. "Send message to all the Anbu that I sent out to come back immediately. The operation has been called off."

Her assistant nodded vigorously and immediately bristled out.

Once Shizune had left, Tsunade spoke up. "What of his followers?" she asked.

Itachi's eyes darkened. "I dealt with two of them by the names of Mira and Shun. They're also in the prison unit. However, there is one more follower who still remains in the Forest of Death. He must be a master of disguise, escape... and deceit."

XXX

"Who are you?" Tenten asked suspiciously to the man who now stood before her. Somehow... somehow he looked familiar...

_Oh yes, now I remember... I saw him back in the examination room. _Tenten remembered, as she stared back at him, his teasing eyes masked by the mysterious glasses he wore. His eyes suddenly twinkled.

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"Have you forgotten me already? I, Kabuto, your brother?"

* * *

**A/N: **But it makes sense. Cuz in the anime, all it says about Kabuto's past is that he had no parents and is just an orphan... Tenten is parentless too. They _could_ be siblings! I hope you like the unlikely twist and I'll have you know that Tenten will finally shine in the next chapter by fighting Kabuto! Whoo! Yay! ^^ :D


	15. The Truth Shall Be Told

**The Truth Shall Be Told **

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. The new plots (meaning the ones you don't recognise) and my OCs belong to me, but anything Naruto related belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Steal my work and I will take legal action against you. Not cool. ©

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Written by 10ShizukaYuukiMistress10**

XXX

What the man in front of her had just said, did not make any sense.

_I, Kabuto, your own brother? _

Tenten looked down; her eyes were empty. He had to be lying.

She gave a start as she sensed that her Shadow clone, the one that she had sent out to take her place with the team, had just been cancelled out. _So much for that! _Tenten thought dryly, wondering what had happened to give her clone away before she looked back up to the compelling shinobi in front of her.

"Sorry, what do you think you mean?" Tenten asked, narrowing her brown eyes sharply at him. She tightened her grip around her kunai, the idea of being distrustful towards him increasing...

Kabuto leaned back against a tree, lifted a hand to tweak his glasses somewhat lazily, and looked at Tenten, letting a cunning smirk obscure his face.

"I said I'm your brother, Tenten." He repeated softly. "Tenten Yakushi."

The bun-haired kunoichi didn't know what to think. Could she believe him?

_He can't possibly be telling the truth! _She reminded herself. Tenten grit her teeth and turned away. Then, the immediate, and sharp answer hit her.

"You're lying!" She growled. She wasn't over-reacting. When she was younger she had asked the Hokage to check through all her personal files for any traces of relatives or siblings... but there was nothing. Just her...

...so what sort of mind-game was he playing at? He _couldn't_ be telling the truth...

"I know all about your troubled past, Tenten." Kabuto went on softly. "Why won't you believe me?"

_Because you're lying...!_

Tenten stayed silent and stared dumbly at the tree that he was so casually leaning on. How could he be calm? If he was really just one of Orochimaru's thieving henchmen, why didn't he seem remotely upset about his master's downfall? Wasn't he worried about being tracked down and suffering the same fate as his successor—locked up in a prison cell, all his past memories wiped out?

Tenten stared at Kabuto... Kabuto her brother... but _how_ could he be her brother?

"I was told that Orochimaru had been defeated... by Itachi Uchiha." Tenten said carefully, the picture beginning to get clearer for her. However, uncertainty still lodged into her voice as she spoke next.

"I don't get it—why're you still lurking around in this examination forest—lying through your teeth at me? Are you trying to get me to follow you into his trap by telling me that you're my brother so that you can gain an upper hand on me? Was that his plan all alon—"

Kabuto interjected her. "—Orochimaru is no longer here, maybe miles away and he made no such plans. Even if he had, they no longer apply; as you said, he was defeated by Uchiha Itachi—and I was there when it happened—I watched it happen in the shadows, and you can't understand how relived I feel to be free... to be released from his control." Kabuto stated, convincingly, and continued;

"... There is no threat here other than the twenty-four competitors that you are up against with your team for the Heaven and Earth scrolls. I am certainly not a threat to you either. And by the way..." Kabuto said coyly, a shadow cast over his face and his glasses as he watched her;

"... I've got four scrolls already with me, if you want them, sister. One Earth, three Heaven..."

Tenten wasn't listening. She tensed. He couldn't be telling the truth. He couldn't! He had _wanted_ to be freed from Orochimaru's control? He had watched his defeat with relief not abhor? He had no intention to harm her, or continue Orochimaru's twisted will? He _was_ her brother?

"... I would actually much like to see how far you've come..." Kabuto spoke on, suggestively, interrupting her thoughts.

"Would you like to show me your potential, Tenten-_chan_?"

"Don't call me that, you are _not_ my brother yet!" Tenten snapped sharply, her grip around the kunai increasing to a crushing rate. "I still don't believe that you're telling the truth! How could you be so carefree about your 'Lord's' downfall?"

Kabuto let out a chuckle.

"Like I said, I was relieved when it happened, because I had never wanted to join Orochimaru—I was never his servant at heart."

He continued, "And finding you again at the same time—my only family..."

Tenten's breathing was rapid and uncontrolled. "SHUT UP! I would know if I had a brother, or any family! YOU'RE A LIAR! I've never seen you before in my life, BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT TELLINGMETHETRUTH!"

Tenten's mind was a blur of red and white as she pushed off from the ground and aimed her kunai at Kabuto. She watched it soar forward towards him, and hoped that her forceful fling had been enough to cause damage to him...

"Hm, close but try again." Kabuto said smoothly, holding the unsuccessful kunai in his left hand as if it were a harmless insect.

"You do realise that you will need to try harder if you hope to draw blood from me, at least." He stated and adjusted his glasses on the brim of his nose before smiling down at her.

The kunai clattered uselessly to the ground.

Tenten let out a furious growl as her hands shifted through a series of seals. She wasn't usually like this: it normally took a long day of training and a pumped-up Lee to pop up at the right timing and annoy her to set off her temper.

Otherwise she liked to regard herself as a moderately peaceful person...

"_Sōshōryū_ _no jutsu!"_

It was her most destructive ninjutsu. She and Sasuke had practised it too many times together for it to go wrong now when she needed it.

"Twin Rising Dragons, unleash!" Tenten exclaimed and her whole body, mind and spirit left the world as she twisted inside the dragon infused scrolls.

Kabuto smirked.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tenten noticed something blue engulfing his hands. She twisted inside the winding scrolls again and tried to catch another glance.

He'd vanished.

Fear started to swell inside Tenten's chest as she released the first batch of weapons. They rained down into the clearing, each like mini bullets and wrecked destruction in their path. But not a single weapon had hit him... he was absolutely nowhere to be seen.

Tenten grabbed out for a second set of weapons, but her hand was stopped. It was as if a mini needle had shot through her wrist... and it prevented her from moving it.

_I can't move my wrist...! What's happening...? Where is Kabuto?_

"Little Tenten, you can't expect me to honestly take you seriously. Let me end this for you quickly," Said his mischievous, familiar and clear voice in her ear. She gasped, but it was too late.

It felt like a hundred of those mini needles were passing through her body, into her skin and into her flesh, tampering with something inside her internally...

Tenten's body went numb all so suddenly, and it was like she was a stick, dropping from the air and falling to the ground...

Except she hadn't hit the bottom. She was in someone's arms.

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"Don't say a word, I've got you," Came Sasuke's voice.

XXX

"How did you know?" Tenten spluttered immediately, twisting to face him. "How did you know that it was just a clone?"

She knew that she had sensed her Shadow clone cancel out earlier quite quickly, but that still didn't explain how he'd managed to find her and get to her before it was too late...

"It's not the time, Tenten, I have to deal with your opponent first," Sasuke said somewhat agitatedly. Tenten didn't know if some of this agitation was directed towards her for leaving him and the team unannounced with nothing more than a typical clone; maybe he was just angry that she'd nearly been turned into a pile of broken bones on the forest floor...

"Be careful, Sasuke, he disappears and reappears unannounced. And... the thing he attacked me with..." Tenten trailed off, remembering how it had felt like mini needles were piercing through her.

"I'll be able to par with his speed using my Sharingan, don't worry." Sasuke glanced at her suddenly, and Tenten felt her heart pounding at one thousand miles an hour at the slight gesture. What was wrong with her?

"You've got to stay back and refrain from getting even more hurt, but seeing as you can't move—" Sasuke placed his arm under her too-numb-to-move legs and unvaryingly lifted her. "—I'm going to move you away..."

"No," Tenten said, her voice rising. "No! I don't want to be left to watch from the side-lines. This has nothing to do with you, Sasuke. It's me he wanted to fight."

Sasuke gave her a sceptical look. "But you can't move," He stated shortly, his earlier agitation coming back again. "Why can't you leave this to me?"

Tenten looked down, her fight diminishing. "He says he's my brother. I don't think he's telling the truth, but if it were that he was..." She stopped.

Sasuke didn't say anything: only he looked around, maybe trying to see if he could catch sight of where Kabuto had chosen to hide.

"He's not popped up yet, maybe we can get away now. The others are waiting for us at the waterfall where we found Anko. She has something to tell you,"

Tenten nodded, but her eyes suddenly widened when she caught sight of the figure which had glowing blue hands and was standing directly behind Sasuke.

"MOVE! HE'S—"

But Tenten needn't have spoken. Sasuke smirked.

"I know," The Uchiha said loudly and lifted his arm—where horrifying yet reassuringly powerful sparks of lightening began to issue.

"... I was just waiting for him to come out. I knew where he was hiding all along."

Without pause, the Uchiha prodigy lashed out and kicked Kabuto across the face—splitting his glasses—he plummeted into a nearby tree, and letting go of Tenten Sasuke leapt forward and thrust his lightening arm into Kabuto's stomach.

"You got me," He said, blood trickling down the corner of his mouth. He lifted up his lips and smirked.

"What are you going to do now, Uchiha Sasuke? Kill me—?"

"—Sasuke isn't going to be killing anyone. Kabuto, your deceptive ways disgust me." Came a new, female's voice. "Shut up."

Tenten let out a ragged breath of shock when two snakes shout out from behind her, past her sides, and opening their foreboding jaws, they clasped onto Kabuto's arms.

"You're finished," Continued the female's voice, with a hint of a sneer in it. "Don't mess with the Uchihas if you know what's good for you, sucker; and more importantly, _me_." She let out a somewhat evil laugh.

"I'll have a good time—"

"—A good time doing what, exactly?" Came yet another new voice. Tenten looked up to see the silhouette of a rather firm-built shinobi in the trees. She was sure that she could see two more ninjas behind him, positioned just barely out of view. "That is not up to you, Miss Anko. We have been sent here by the Hokage to capture and take to the prison unit the remaining enemy and spy of Orochimaru; You're in our way."

Anko seemed unfazed. If not, she appeared to be rearing to steer up some mischief.

She quirked an eyebrow. "I did all the work... you think I'll just let you have your sack of gold and keep my mouth shut?"

"...It's not like that at all—!"

"Oh, sure, humour me," Anko said, and her eyes suddenly lit up with a devious gleam. She opened her mouth to speak but was stopped.

"I think that's enough, Anko," Came a calm voice—which was none other than Itachi's. Tenten could feel Sasuke tense up beside her.

She turned her head, catching sight of the corner of Anko's brown cloak, and looking past, she saw where Itachi stood, his expression curious but otherwise devoid of emotion.

"We need him locked up, Anko-san," He looked at Kabuto, his eyes not betraying anything, not a hint of emotion, recognition, clarity or disgust upon seeing Kabuto at all.

"There isn't much time; the Hokage will send out more officers if these ones don't return soon to her office and report their findings. Please do not delay them," Itachi reasoned shortly, and closing his eyes, he turned to face Kabuto.

But when he reopened his eyes, Mangekyou Sharingan was activated; Kabuto gave a shudder, a bit of drool fell down from his lip, and now he knew nothing except that his heart beat inside his chest like a rapid, soothing, drum...

At that moment, Tenten felt the tranquilising numbness of Kabuto's jutsu leave her body significantly. She looked down at her hand and lifted it up in front of her eyes.

_What a relief... I can move again!_

Tenten's sudden elation did not go by unnoticed by Sasuke.

"Is the side-effects wearing off?" He asked, and to this Tenten nodded with a smile. Sasuke couldn't help but return her smile with a smirk of his own.

Their bubble of light-headedness popped the moment Sasuke caught sight of Itachi watching them with an impassive yet clearly delusive expression, and once again he tensed as if in invisible pain. Tenten saw this and frowned. She turned away.

"Listen kid," Anko spoke up suddenly, and stepped forward, drawing their attention back to her as the three shinobi from the shadows in the tree dropped down and dragged Kabuto—who had a slightly confused and misshaped expression, which only added to his psychopathic look with split glasses falling from his nose and drool sliding down his mouth—then disappeared in a poof, leaving behind a scattered assortment of smoky air.

Tenten suddenly realised that had been her last chance to find out for sure if Kabuto had really been telling the truth about being her separated brother. He now had no memory of his past or what he had been capable of... or who he was. It was up to her to decide whether she chose to believe what he'd claimed... there was no other way that she could get the truth now—unless Kabuto regained his memories somehow and felt like he was up to spilling the beans.

"I have stuff to tell you," Anko continued lazily, barely acknowledging the four ninjas departure, and pulled out a stick of dango from her coat pocket, and pushed it into her mouth.

"... You will now be sent to Suna to help the current kazekage with managing his son, Sabaku no Gaara, Tenten. Before you ask, yes, the Hokage wishes for you to pull out of the Chunin exams in order to do this, but it's for your own protection. She wants you to lye low and wait for this recent fiasco of you being hunted down and targeted by Orochimaru to die down, before letting you into the Leaf village again, in case there are remaining follows of Orochimaru left who wish to continue his will and try to track you down. No one would suspect that you were in Suna, safe with the Kazekage."

"B-But aren't I safe here?" Tenten spluttered. "What about if I had one or two Anbu by my door or something? Wouldn't that be enough...?"

"No," Said Anko firmly, and closed her eyes, amused.

Something came to Tenten's mind.

_Sasuke had said that he promised to protect me…._

When she looked at him, he appeared indifferent. Didn't he care that she'd be leaving, far away from the Leaf? Or was he just unconcerned and unwilling to interject because it was the Hokage's orders?

"...But I thought that the Kazekage's son, Gaara, was dangerous? Something about him being unable to contain his blood-lust...?" Tenten tried finally.

"Oh, yes!" Said Anko robustly, as if the idea was an exciting, new present. "He's completely insane—or so they say. The One-Tails is sealed inside him and sometimes it takes over him completely, to the point where blood it spilt left, right and ce—"

"I think that's enough," Itachi said sharply, when Tenten's face had paled in dread. But she could tell that something was wrong. His expression seemed troubled...

"Don't turn around or give away any signs of recognition. We're being ambushed—there are twenty-four ninjas around this clearing as I speak." Itachi said, breaking the moment of silence.

Anko, ignoring Itachi's warning, let out a joyous shout in redemption.

"Well I thought it was about time something fun happened! Show yourself, cowards!" She yelled, addressing the area at whole.

To Tenten's shock, something rattled behind the tree that she was standing next to. Sasuke went for it before she could, and pulling out a kunai, he disappeared into the shadows.

Suddenly, figures were darting in and out of gaps between trees, or stepping out of the shadows; she recognised some of the shinobi to be from the Sound, Mist, Cloud and Stone villages.

_What is going on? It almost looks like the competitors apart from the Konoha twelve have joined forces with each other to take us down. Maybe that's why we haven't come into contact with any opponents yet; maybe that's why it's always seemed too quiet; they've been following us all along!_

A shudder slivered down Tenten's spine. Turning around she saw Anko who was locked in combat with a determined-looking Cloud shinobi and yelled, "Where are the Konoha twelve? I thought they were supposed to be with you, or otherwise down by that waterfall?"

"Don't worry about them! Focus on not getting killed! If you can pass through this fight without dying, I might consider making you a Chunin on the spot!"

Tenten nodded, and for the first time in weeks, her eyes lit up with a burning determination. She had to get it right.

"Shadow clone no jutsu!" Tenten yelled, and formed seals. A poof came and standing next to her were three clones. They all pulled out kunais, including Tenten herself, and set off.

Tenten took flight to the trees and watched from there as her clones battling it out for the first few minutes. She was sure that she was alone in that tree until a branch rustled behind her, and before she knew it, a hand had groped her waist.

"... Well aren't you a cutie," Drawled a quiet voice. Alarmed at this, Tenten lashed at the hand with her kunai, but its owner was quick to remove it before she could cut them.

"So you're not just looks, you've got skills too," She turned around and came face to face with a male shinobi; at first glance his expression was arrogant, but Tenten knew not if that should be over-looked as he might actually be powerful.

His hair was silvery white, but the tips were an electric purple. The bun-haired kunoichi looked up into his eyes, which were also purple, and noticed that protruding out of his mouth like a dog's, was a sharp tooth, almost like a shark's.

"... I'm the Second Coming of the Demon." He said, and popped an eye open to assess Tenten's reaction. Her face remained confused.

"Or that's what my village calls me. In other words, I'm Suigetsu Hozuki."

_Suigetsu Hozuki... and he appears to be from the Mist village... well, I'll have to see if he'll be a tough opponent soon..._

"... But seeing as you're only pumped up for a fight, sexy, let's do it now!" His purple eyes seemed to dilute, and fill with up with a sudden blood-lust.

Tenten jumped back a few metres, and watched as his arms rippled slightly with abnormally big, muscles.

Suigetsu was grinning. "...Like what you're seeing?"

Tenten resisted the urge to gag, and narrowed her eyes. She would have told him her retort, had he not charged at her with a Water jutsu.

Out of nowhere, water in the shape of drills erupted towards her. Tenten whipped out some weapons, but most importantly, her chain with a Scythe on the end of it; she spun it around, and as the water surged towards her, she used it to cut through the liquid, slicing it though the middle.

The smaller water drills which were not as fast as the first water drill surged towards her from the side. They seemed to group close together as they twisted. This would make it harder for Tenten if she intended to cut through them like the first, as the density of the water would've become greater.

The weapon's kunoichi changed tactic, noting how Suigetsu stood on his branch grinning at her, as if expecting her to give up. She spun her chain around in fast-moving circles. The water drills hit the chain with a massive force, making Tenten unable to hold it for much longer, and fall from her branch.

In a fleeting attempt to save herself, Tenten dragged the chain over her head and threw it onto the branch where it coiled over and tightened. With a spurt of strength, Tenten hoisted herself back up, panting, and soaking to the bone.

But Suigetsu was not done yet.

"Water bullet no jutsu!"

Tenten dropped her chain and dived quickly for the ground. The sharp bullets of fast-moving water missed her by inches. She quickly retrieved a scroll from her weapons pouch and summoned some more weapons.

Tenten forced her mind to clear, and focused on the thousands of mini water darts coming towards her, trying to imagine them to be small targets.

'You've done this many times, ne. You never miss because your accuracy is unbeatable!' Inner's voice whispered in the back of Tenten's mind. She nodded, and released her weapons.

_Pop, pop, pop! _

The sound rang over the clearing, as each of the mini water bullets sloshed to the ground, punctured in mid-air by her weapons.

_Yes, I did it! _Tenten thought, and she pulled out another scroll.

"It's time I now showed you one of my jutsus, Hozuki Suigetsu!" But as Tenten said it, she sensed that something had happened—one of her three Shadow clones that she'd summoned prior to this fight had been defeated.

The bun-haired kunoichi tried to push that issue to the back of her head. The jutsu that she was about to perform acquired all of her attention.

"Dragon bomb no jutsu!"

The fire dragon erupted out of Tenten's scroll like a menacing demon, searching from left to right for its victim. Suigetsu appeared to be already forming hand seals to counter-attack Tenten's fire dragon jutsu.

"Water encampment wall no jutsu!" Suigetsu said, and out of his mouth spurt a wall of thick water.

The fire dragon summoning immediately disappeared into sizzling steam when it struck Suigetsu's defensive water wall—it evaporated.

Tenten let out a furious hiss. Not only did it appear that she was losing her battle, but down below her she felt another of her Shadow clones beginning to cancel out; there was only one left.

"Hey cutie, is it my turn yet?"

Tenten shook her head determinedly, and pulled out her wooden staff. "No, not yet."

She sprang forward and brandished her staff down on him. Instead of dodging, he remained completely rooted to the spot. Tenten watched with eyes widened in horror, as his head turned into water and her staff slid through it like butter.

"... That's my Hydrification technique," Suigetsu said proudly, and before Tenten could react, he pulled back a fist which had been enlarged to abnormal size, and aimed at her.

She gasped as she waited for it to pierce her stomach, but nothing happened. Tenten lifted her eyes open and found herself standing inside a sphere of fast-spinning chakra...

_...it couldn't be...!_

"... N-Neji?" Tenten gasped, and she turned to find the young Hyuuga standing right beside her.

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"Were here; all of us."

Sure enough, Tenten spotted Lee locked in hand-to-hand combat not too far away with a Stone shinobi; along with his dog Akamaru, Kiba was fighting a Sound shinobi; Hinata was timidly overcoming her opponent who was a Mist kunoichi; Naruto with his trusty clones were taking on a Sound shinobi; and Tenten could see Sakura fisting her way at a Mist ninja.

Neji's voice snapped her back to their fight—his Eight Trigrams was still spinning but beginning to lift.

"I can take on this shinobi for you. Go down and assist the others," He instructed her, not giving away much of what he was thinking in his calm voice.

Tenten smiled gratefully at her teammate, and brandishing her staff, she jumped from the branch, and dropped to the ground on her knees.

There was an enemy ninja in front of her, but he hadn't seen her. He seemed to be concentrating on Kiba, who stood precariously with his back to him. It looked like he was about to launch a sneak attack on him.

"Not so fast!" Tenten shouted, and leaping forward, she hammered her staff into his back, making him cry in pain and collapse to his knees on the ground.

Kiba didn't even notice what she had done for him, but Tenten was not surprise and merely rolled her eyes, barely acknowledging the whimpering shinobi at her feet.

"Enough! ENOUGH!" A voice suddenly shouted. The fighting did not stop, but many spared a glance at the place where Tsunade, Tsunade the fifth Hokage, stood angrily.

"HAVEN'T I JUST SAID ENOUGH? _STOP FIGHTING NOW!_" She screamed.

Everyone seemed to listen now, even the vicious-looking Mist shinobi.

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"The Chunin exams, are cancelled!"

**A/N:** I UPDATED! How was this chapter, eh? What d'ya think? Has my writing improved? Or got worse? Bwaa I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, and what the heck—if you're sitting at your laptop right now feeling thoroughly confused, just say what it is about the plot that I've bodged up in a review and I'll try to reply.^^ :D

**BYE! =)**


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